No Place Like Home, Part 3
by ilsablaine
Summary: Chapter 11 is up! Rating is still a T but may change to M at a later date. Takes place during the last 10 minutes of Crash and carries on from there.
1. Rescue

_This is my first posted fic. I actually started a different one a few weeks ago, but then the finale happened, and I had to get this out . . . soooo hope you like it! This might be one shot, or there might be more. Please R&R and let me know if you want more! Thanks to the CR gals for inspiring me!_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Crossing Jordan; it's just for fun and venting frustration!**_

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**Chapter One – Rescue**

"I love you."

"Jordan. . ."

She shook her head. "I'm not asking for anything here. I just. . . I don't want it left unsaid." She took a deep breath. "My whole life I've been so focused on death, you know. My Mom. My job. I, uh. . . I think I've just been afraid of really living, you know."

Suddenly his lips were on hers. They were warm, despite the cold. Firm, but still soft and tender. Her mind flashed back to that night in the Mojave desert. Talking and getting to know each other. A small fire keeping them warm. Their first kiss, keeping them warmer. She knew now, from that moment, that kiss, that it had always been Woody. It would always be Woody. To the end of her days, however long that may be. . .

He pulled away gently, resting her forehead against his, his beautiful smile showing the dimples she was so in love with. Just looking at him made her knees go weak and her pulse race. She willed the pounding in her chest to subside.

Suddenly he looked up and squinted his eyes at the bright sky. She looked up, too, and realized it wasn't just her heart hammering in her ears that she'd heard. It was – helicopters?

Woody jumped to his feet. "They found us!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, waving his arms in the air as she went running for the rest of their friends.

Woody sat alone by the fire, dawn just beginning to break over the mountains. He watched with a heavy heart and realized how many times he had missed the beauty of a sunrise. He had always just assumed there would be another one to watch tomorrow.

Tomorrow, he thought to himself. Will there be a tomorrow? Will there be one more sunrise to be in awe of?

He thought of all the missed sunrises and opportunities in his life. He'd been too young when his mom died to know what opportunities were, but young enough that his innocence caused him to grab each opportunity and run with it, not worrying about the outcome. After her death, opportunities were pushed aside unless they were going to benefit his family, namely his brother. He could think of only one time in his life when he'd grabbed an opportunity thinking solely of himself and what it meant for his future: the job offer as a detective with Boston P.D. Little did he know at the time that that opportunity would lead to so many more missed ones. . .

He thought back to the night before, watching Jordan's defeated expression at the news he and Bug weren't able to make the transmitter work long enough to contact help. He knew she was worried about Dr. M. and they were all painfully aware that he didn't have much time left. If Dr. M. passed, Woody knew Jordan would give up. He wasn't going to let that happen. He wouldn't stand by and watch either of them give up, especially Jordan.

He sighed, thinking of Jordan Cavanaugh and all the opportunities he'd missed with her that he'd never get back. He vowed right then and there if they both got off this mountain alive, he'd never miss another opportunity with her.

As if she could read his thoughts, she was suddenly sitting beside him, reaching for his hand. He smiled at her, knowing how much effort it took for her to make that one gesture. He squeezed her hand in reassurance and wrapped his arm around her. They sat in silence for a long time and watched dawn break on a new day.

"Woody, I don't know what's going to happen up here. But. . . there's something I have to say. . . just so you know. . ." She took a deep breath; looked straight into his eyes.

"I love you."

"Jordan . . ."

She shook her head. "I'm not asking for anything here. I just. . . I just don't want it left unsaid." She took a deep breath. "My whole life I've been so focused on death, you know. My Mom. My job. I, uh. . . I think I've just been afraid of really living, you know."

He didn't think. He just reacted, the words he'd been longing to hear again echoing in his brain. Her lips were warm, despite the cold. Soft and tender. His mind flashed back to that night in the Mojave desert. Talking and getting to know each other. A small fire keeping them warm. Their first kiss, keeping them warmer. He knew now, from that moment, that kiss, that it had always been Jordan. It would always be Jordan. To the end of his days, however long that may be. . .

He drew back, gently, smiling into her eyes, willing his pulse to slow down. His heart was hammering in his chest, the pounding in his ears so great he . . . suddenly he looked up. She'd heard it too. It wasn't just his imagination. That wasn't just his pulse pounding, that was – helicopters?

Bug sat, alone, fingering Madeline's teething keys, willing himself not to give up hope.

So much wasted time, he thought to himself. Why did I waste so much time? The pain of realizing he may lose Lily so soon, and that Madeline wasn't old enough to remember him actually made his stomach ache. His mind flashed back to that morning at the morgue, before they left to board the plane. Jiggling the teething keys in front of Madeline, trying to make her smile.

"It's just gas," Nigel had told him. Bug shook his head at him, refusing to believe it was anything but her daddy's love that had caused the smile on Madeline's face. He remembered how excited he'd been when Lily had come back into the room and he told her Madeline had smiled for the first time.

He sighed now, willing his mind to hold onto the picture of that toothless baby smile until he could see it again. He refused to believe he would never again have the opportunity to hold her, see her smile and tuck her into bed at night. He refused to believe Lily would have to raise Madeline on her own after all. He refused to let his tears overflow, and willed his angry pulse to slow it's pounding in his brain. . .

Slowly, reality made its way back into his head and he realized the noise he heard wasn't his heart hammering in his ears it was – helicopters?

The sound of Woody shouting dragged him out of his reverie and he scrambled out of the plane to see Woody waving his arms at two rescue helicopters circling over head.

Nigel sat still, hanging his head, knowing that hoping for any rescue was futile. His mind struggled to comprehend where he could have gone wrong in repairing the transmitter. He was so sure. . . You failed your friends! His mind screamed at him. When they needed you the most, you failed!

He dipped his head, his body shuddering with sobs he tried not to let loose.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, then two. He looked up and saw Kate. He realized she knew him well enough to know what he was thinking, what he was feeling. How responsible he felt for the failure of their last attempt at rescue. They were enough alike that she would have felt the same thing. He covered the two hands with his good one, enjoying the extra warmth her touch provided.

He realized vaguely that this woman was quite possibly who he'd been searching for his whole life. She was competitive, she challenged him, she was tough-as-nails-take-no-bull and soft and vulnerable all at the same time. She was his friend. He could feel his pulse accelerating as his mind tried to figure out the words to tell her how he felt. He opened his mouth to speak, surprised to discover his heartbeat pounding so loudly in his ears. . .

He looked up suddenly, all feelings of Kate flying out of his mind as his thoughts collided in his brain, fighting desperately to make sense of the sound he was hearing. It couldn't possibly be, but it was - helicopters?

Kate stood silently out of Nigel's line of vision and studied the way his body hunched into itself. She hadn't known Nigel long, but she knew him well enough to know he wasn't a man who lacked confidence. But right now his body language screamed failure.

The transmitter was probably their last chance at rescue and between the impassable mountain and a dead cell phone battery, there wasn't much point at attempting to fix the transmitter and trying again. It was too dangerous to keep sending members of their crew up a mountain anyway, especially considering they had little food and next to no water. They couldn't keep exerting themselves. All they could do now was wait and hope.

She watched Nigel a moment longer and was surprised to feel her heart aching for him.

She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, but knew those words would fall on deaf ears. She wanted to tell him how she'd never felt so connected to a co-worker before and how much that meant to her. Hell, she'd never worked in one place long enough to have co-workers, let alone to call any of them a friend.

Friend. Yes, that's what Nigel was to her. She'd never before revealed as much of herself to anyone as she had to Nigel. She realized it was because he didn't try to pry into her life. He wasn't the kind of guy to go around spilling his friends' secrets for all to hear.

He just accepted her as she was faults and all. And the fact the he called her on those faults didn't hurt, either. He wasn't afraid of her. She smiled to herself thinking of the times she'd unnecessarily threatened to feed his kidney's to Binky.

She stepped forward then and sighed, knowing no amount of words would help take away the burden he carried right now. So she did the only thing she could think of.

She laid one tentative hand, then two, on his shoulder, knowing he would take comfort in that small gesture. She was pleasantly surprised when he covered her hands with his one good one. She was even more surprised to realize her heart skipped a beat when he did. It had been a long time since anyone had managed to get her pulse racing with such a small gesture. She willed her pulse to slow it's pounding in her ears as Nigel had looked up towards the sky. She cocked her head listening and quickly realized it wasn't her heart pounding in her ears it was – helicopters?

Garret closed his eyes letting his mind wander through his memories of the last six years. His heart refused to believe this was the end, even though his physician's brain was screaming at him to let go. He fingered the piece of paper in his hand as his mind flashed to that day Jordan was taken into surgery. She'd been barking orders at him, assuming the worst. He had managed to stay relatively calm until she'd started crying. "I should have written this down! Why didn't I write this down?" she'd choked out.

So now he was writing it down. He had a will, of course, but it held only his wishes for his material objects, of which there weren't many. This small yellow piece of paper in his hand held his last thoughts, his last thank yous, his last apologies, his last I love yous:

_Abby – I'm proud of you. Don't ever forget that I love you. _

_Maggie – Thank you for Abby. Take care of her and yourself. _

_Renee – I'm sorry. I wish things could have been different. I'll always love you. _

_Bug – Cherish each moment. She'll be walking and talking before you know it. _

_Lily – You're an incredible mother. Don't forget to ask for help from the "village." _

_Nigel – Try and keep Jordan out of trouble. And forget the new car – buy a ring instead. _

_Kate – Welcome to the team. I know you'll make a great CME. Good luck with Jordan. _

_Woody – Stop procrastinating! Take care of her. She needs you more than she'll admit._

He was having a harder time with Jordan though, and nothing he could think of seemed to do justice for what she really meant to him. Finally he settled on a short note:

_Jordan - Thank you for being you – for pushing me to be better than I ever thought I could be. Thank you for taking care of me when I couldn't. Thank you for making me see "family" doesn't mean there has to be a blood relation. I know you've never done anything I've ever told you to, but I need you to do this one last thing for me – for you. I'm telling you now to get over your stubborn Irish self and tell Woody how you really feel. You have a second chance Jordan; don't wait until you're the one writing it all on a piece of paper with a frozen pen that doesn't want to work. And I will be watching to make damn sure you do it! P.S. – don't drive Kate too crazy. And don't forget to do your paperwork!_

He chuckled to himself at that, knowing she'd have some choice words for him when she read it. He also knew she'd do what he asked, because he wouldn't ask her to do it if he didn't know it was the best thing for her.

He re-read the note and realized his heart was pounding at the thought of this little piece of paper being found by some nameless orderly at the nearest hospital. He made a mental note to himself to sneak it into Jordan's pocket the next time she came to check on him. He willed his pulse to slow down, knowing he had to save what little strength he had left so he could get the paper to Jordan. He concentrated on breathing slowly and wondered briefly why his heart was still hammering in his ears. He looked up suddenly, realizing that the sound he heard wasn't his heart racing; it was – helicopters?

He crushed the paper in his fist as Jordan came running in and crouched beside him. "Garret, you hear that? They found us!"

He choked back tears and tried to sit. "Just help me up. Come on." He groaned.

"You've all ready been heroic enough. Okay? Stay still." She told him as she pushed him gently back down.

He gripped her hand tightly and closed his eyes. He took several deep breaths, then looked her straight in the eyes. "Jordan, thank you for coming back. From L.A., you know? When I needed you." He let the tears start to fall.

She smiled at him. "No. No, I needed you." She said, choking back tears of her own.

He let his tears fall, as she rubbed the back of his neck in comfort. He reached for her and wrapped her in a tight hug, the little yellow piece of paper all but forgotten.

**Want more? Or should I leave it at this? I've kinda all ready started chapter two, but that doesn't mean I have to post it. . . Please R&R! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Fear of Flying

_Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your wonderful reviews. I quickly learned I have a lot to live up to with this chapter, so I hope it meets your expectations and then some. I'm trying to focus a little on each character, so for those of you wondering why I haven't focused on Jordan's POV too much, it's coming, don't worry!_

_And to those of you with medical backgrounds, I apologize if I'm off with some stuff. It's been a while since high school biology! Most of it is what I remember from first aid classes and my own experiences with surgeries and hospitals. _

**Disclaimer – as always I don't own 'em (though sometimes I wish I did!) It's just for fun! Please R&R! Thanks for reading!**

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**Chapter Two – Fear of Flying**

Jordan stayed where she was, willing herself not to lose what little control she had left and to stay strong for Garret.

She'd never seen him cry before. She'd watched him shed a few tears when he discovered she had the meningioma, but she'd never seen him completely break down and cling to her like a child. The realization that he could be so vulnerable scared the hell out of her, and she could hardly wait for the helicopter to land and get them out of this god forsaken place.

She could hear the choppers coming closer, and held her breath, knowing it was going to be difficult for the pilots to find somewhere safe to land.

After what seemed like a lifetime, she felt the vibrations of the chopper under her feet and then Woody yelling her name. She gently laid Garret back down and started gathering his belongings, knowing he would be the first one on the chopper due to the extent of his injuries.

"Jordan!" Woody came racing in, nearly out of breath. He crouched down next to her, speaking softly so only she could hear. "They found a place to land, but only one chopper at a time. We've got to get Dr. M. on that bird so the other one can stop circling and touch down, too." He knew if Dr. Macy realized the others might not get rescued right away, there was no way he'd agree to get on the first helicopter.

She nodded. "Stay with him. I'm going out to talk to the rescue crew and give them his stats." She laid a hand on his shoulder, smiling softly at him, but still not willing to completely let herself believe everything would be okay. There were too many obstacles still to overcome, before she would let herself fully come to terms with the events of the last several days.

She stepped out of the plane, squinting into the bright sunshine. She vaguely noticed some darker clouds slowly making their way towards the rescue operation. She scanned the chopper, picking out an attendant who was gathering first aid supplies from the cockpit.

"You got a stretcher in there? Because we're gonna need it."

The attendant turned to her and nodded. "There's one on board. We figured someone would make use of it." She scrutinized Jordan, taking in the sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks of someone who was on the verge of becoming severely dehydrated.

"I'm Kelly." She stuck out her hand. "What's the status of our patient?"

"Jordan." She shook Kelly's hand, immediately liking the woman's no nonsense attitude. "He's got internal bleeding, likely from a lacerated spleen caused by a broken rib. His injuries were sustained during the crash, but he didn't let us know the severity of them until yesterday. We've done everything we can to keep him immobile and comfortable. The cold seems to be helping to slow the bleed." Jordan led Kelly inside the plane, to the makeshift triage. "His name's Garret Macy. Mid-fifties, good health, no drug allergies that I'm aware of."

"Okay." Kelly knelt next to Garret, taking his blood pressure and other vitals. She nodded at him. "Looks like you're okay to travel, Garret. I'm going to get a stretcher for you and we'll get you on board. Once we do that, we'll get your IV's hooked up. When's the last time you ate?"

"Uh, about 9 o'clock last night. I had a granola bar and a piece of beef jerky."

"Good. That's good. They won't have to pump your stomach before taking you in for surgery once we get to Boston General." Kelly completed her check of Garret's vitals and stood up. She motioned to Jordan to follow her outside.

"He's doing well, considering the extent of his injuries, but I want him out of here asap. I'll need your help to get him loaded since the rest of my crew can't land right now." She gestured to the circling helicopter and Jordan nodded. It felt good to be doing something proactive.

"We've also got another team member with a possible fractured radius and a laceration that needs suturing. He hasn't lost much blood, but I know he's in a lot more pain than he's letting on. I'd like to send him with Garret, if we can." Jordan gestured towards Nigel and his bandaged arm. "I can also get Woody and Bug to give you a hand loading Garret."

"Sounds good. Let's get Garret loaded up and then I'll take a look at your friends arm real quick. We're kinda under a time constraint. The other chopper can't circle for much longer, or it'll be running low on fuel. There's another storm forecasted to move in later this afternoon, and we don't want you folks spending another night out here."

Jordan nodded. "Let's do it."

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Woody squeezed her hand, watching her jog out to the choppers. He caught the look in her eyes and wondered when the events of the last few days would all come crashing down on her. He prayed she'd let him be there to help her through it.

He looked down at Dr. Macy, a little unnerved by Garret's obvious emotions. Woody had never dealt well with men's emotions, including his own. He was raised by a cop, for crying out loud. Showing any emotion other than anger was a sign of weakness in his father's eyes. He knew it was stupid and childish, but that was the reason he'd never really told Jordan how he felt about her. The first time she'd admitted her feelings for him, he'd chased her away because he didn't want her to see how vulnerable he really was. Then this morning . . . sure she'd caught him off guard, but he'd also allowed her to interrupt him even though he wanted to tell her he loved her, too. He knew he loved her with every part of his heart and soul, but he couldn't make his mouth form the words.

As if Garret could read his thoughts, he said "Stop analyzing it and just go with your heart. Don't think about the perfect place, or the perfect time; just do it, the first second you have the chance."

Woody looked down at the man who was like a father to Jordan. Dr. Macy probably knew Jordan better than anyone, a fact that made Woody more than a little envious of the older man. Dr. Macy always seemed to know when to push Jordan and when to back off. But the craziest part was that Jordan always responded to him. The only time Woody had ever pushed Jordan, it had ended up in disaster.

"Looks like you'll be getting out of here soon." Woody said, ignoring Garret's words. "Guess you'll have to have surgery, huh?"

He could feel the frankness of the look Dr. Macy gave him and it made him nervous. Dr. Macy just smiled slightly, and Woody knew the older man could see right through him. He was also thankful Dr. Macy wasn't choosing that moment to call him on it.

He was more than a little relieved when Jordan came back in with the flight nurse. He sat silently, watching the nurse take Dr. Macy's stats and watching Jordan do what she did best – work. He knew she needed to keep busy right now, or risk losing the little control she had left, but damn, he wished she'd just sit for a minute let him take care of her.

_Relax, Hoyt._ He told himself. _You have the rest of your life to take care of her._ He willed the flight nurse to hurry so they could all get back to Boston and start recovering from this nightmare. He felt a slight chill go down his spine and had a lingering sense that everything wasn't going to go as smoothly as it should.

He stood as the flight nurse finished examining Dr. Macy. "I can help you load him" He said and she nodded.

"Thanks. I appreciated it. We need to move fast, get out of here so the rest of my crew can land and get your friends home safely before this storm sets in."

Woody looked at her sharply. He'd been so engrossed in his thoughts of Jordan he hadn't realized the change in the air. As he looked around now, he could see the darker clouds slowly moving in. He shivered then, and he was sure his reaction wasn't just from the sun slipping behind the clouds.

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Bug watched the helicopter land, and the flight nurse climb out. He watched Jordan confer with the nurse then disappear into the plane. He watched as they prepared to load Dr. Macy's stretcher into the helicopter. He moved forward to help, but Woody had all ready grabbed the other end. He watched Jordan gesture towards Nigel's injured arm, and Nigel shake his head and hug her. He watched Woody step forward, wrap Jordan in his arms and gently kiss her forehead. Bug stood still, feeling strangely out of place, not really knowing what to do. He had a feeling of nagging doubt, and he couldn't pinpoint the reason for it. Nigel came up beside him and laid his good hand on Bug's shoulder.

"It's almost over, Mate. They just need to get Dr. M. out of here and land that second bird, and we are home free."

Bug nodded. He wished he could let his heart feel the confidence Nigel had.

"You're going to go with Dr. Macy?" He asked Nigel, gesturing towards his injured arm.

"Nah. I can wait for the second one. Dr. M. will want Jordan with him, anyway." He flushed slightly at Bug's raised eyebrows. "And I kind of promised Kate I'd stay with her. She doesn't like flying, and . . ." he let his voice trail off, watching Bug's expression change from one of controlled indifference to one of deepening concern. "Bug? What is it Mate?"

"Get Kate. Tell her to have whatever she's taking with her ready to go. Photographs, paperwork, laptops, etc. When the second helicopter lands, we're going to have to move fast." At Nigel's questioning look, he nodded his head towards the darkening sky. "I overheard the flight nurse tell Jordan there's another storm brewing. If that second helicopter can't land in the next few minutes, it's going to have to turn around and go home - empty." He watched alarm dance across Nigel's face and knew his friend had realized what Bug had not spoken – that there was a very real possibility Nigel, Woody, Kate and Bug would be spending at least one more night on the mountain.

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Nigel took off running as the horror of Bug's unspoken words sunk into his brain. They couldn't stay here another night, wondering when the storm would pass, wondering if they could survive long enough for a second rescue could be attempted. If they were left here for longer than one more night, he knew there was a very real possibility one of them wouldn't make it home. There were not enough food and water rations to last them more than 24 hours.

He also Kate was going to have a hard enough time getting on that helicopter; she didn't need to know they were being chased by a storm.

"Kate!" He yelled into the broken plane. "Kate!"

"What? I'm over here." She said calmly, stepping out of the trees behind the plane.

"Get your things. Evidence, laptops, whatever you need on the deceased to take back to Boston. And get it now." He was nearly out of breath, from running and from fear.

She watched his face, alarm bells ringing in her mind. "Nigel? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, luv. Nothing. We're just about ready to go, that's all, and we need to get back to Boston to check on Dr. M. He'll be going into surgery immediately and you'll need to file the paperwork for the demort findings so Walcott can launch her investigation into the terrorist theory." The words tumbled from his mouth in a rush. He didn't dare tell Kate the real reason for his near panic. One of them needed to stay calm, and he knew once they were on that chopper, it wasn't going to be she. If she was scared of flying before the crash, she'd be damn near terrified of it now.

"Okay, okay. I'll get my stuff. Can you help me with a couple things?" He nodded at her and he quickly helped her pack her things, all the while keeping her totally oblivious to the storm quietly brewing outside.

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Kate quickly and efficiently packed her things, still managing to keep the papers in some sort of haphazard filing system. She watched Nigel out of the corner of her eye, and her concern about his arm injury re-surfaced. His odd behaviour was consistent with shock, although it was highly unlikely after all this time. If he was going to go into shock, he'd most likely have done it by now. No. There had to be another explanation.

"How's Dr. Macy?" She asked quietly, thinking maybe he'd taken a turn for the worse and that was the reason for Nigel's sudden change in behaviour.

"He's fine. As fine as he can be. His vitals are good. He'll need emergency surgery, of course, but the bleeding has slowed for now. They just finished loading him. Jordan's going with him."

She nodded. His voice seemed to have calmed some. "You're not going with Dr. Macy?" She wasn't surprised Nigel had let Jordan go with her boss, but she felt she needed to keep Nigel talking to keep him calm. "You should go and have that arm looked at."

"It's not that bad. Besides, Jordan's listed as Dr. M.'s next of kin, so she'll be able to get the all information we need about his surgery. And she'll need to make phone calls to his ex-wife and daughter. They know Jordan, and will be comfortable hearing the news from her." He watched as she zipped up a third duffle bag and stood up. "Ready?"

She nodded. She hesitated a moment before hoisting a duffle bag onto each shoulder. He caught her hesitation and cocked his head at her. "What's wrong, luv?" He asked, although he was sure he all ready knew the answer.

She took a deep breath. "I'm just not crazy about the idea of getting into another flying vehicle." She shrugged, trying to appear indifferent to the fear that was curling itself around her gut.

He smiled at her. "I know. I'm sorry it has to be this way. But rescue choppers are known for their abilities in all types of weather and are generally able to withstand harsher conditions than planes."

"Nigel. I know the stats on planes vs. helicopters vs. storms. But facts in a book don't make it any easier to actually climb aboard. So let's just get it over with." She waited for him to grab the third duffle bag and adjust it in his good hand before she stepped out of the plane. She stopped so suddenly, he nearly ran into her. "Oh, God," she whispered.

"What?" He stepped out behind her and looked incredulously around them. In a matter of minutes, the storm clouds had swept over the mountain, bruising the sky. The wind was picking up and light snow was swirling around them. "Oh, sweet Nancy."

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Garret breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the helicopter lift off the mountain. He knew members of his team were being left behind, but Jordan had assured him they would be on the second chopper, and would land in Boston shortly after he and Jordan did.

He looked around him taking in the tubes and IV bags strung everywhere. The doctor in him knew why the supplies were there. The patient in him hated every second of it. The boss in him felt helpless for not being able to stay for the second helicopter and see his staff out of a dangerous situation.

As if Jordan could read his mind, she reached over and squeezed his hand. "Everything's fine, Gar. The second chopper landed with no problems. They shouldn't be too far behind us." She didn't give him any indication of the potential disaster awaiting her friends and their rescue vehicle. Nor did she let on how scared she really was to be leaving Woody and the others behind. They'd endured too much to not be safely rescued now.

"Jordan." Garret licked his dry lips. "I need you to do something for me."

She nodded. "Anything Garret. You want me to call Maggie when we get back? Or Renee? Or. . ." She trailed off when he shook his head.

"No. Yeah. You can do that, but that's not what I need you to do. I need you to take this." He pushed a crumpled piece of yellow notepaper into her hand. "Don't look at it now. Only if something goes wrong."

"Garret, I. . ."

"No. I promised you. Now you promise me. Please."

She looked at him, tears clouding her vision. "Okay." She whispered. "I promise."

"Thank you." He let out the breath he'd been holding, letting the stress, pain and exhaustion finally take its toll.

She saw the emotions flicker across his face and squeezed his hand again. "It's okay. Just rest now, Garret."

He nodded and closed his eyes, letting sleep overtake him, peacefully oblivious to the ominous clouds and swirling snow outside.

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_I apologize for the wait for this chapter. My family has been sick for the last week. But now I'm on a roll with the creative juices (it's amazing what advil and coldFX will do for creativity, especially after midnight!) So chapter three shouldn't be as long a wait. _


	3. Waiting

_Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for all your wonderful reviews! Sorry for the wait. I had some trouble finding motivation for this chapter. __**Special Thanks to nattylovesjordy for the great chat and for helping me find new inspiration which helped kick my rear into gear to finally finish this chapter!**_

_And again, to those of you with medical backgrounds, I apologize if I'm off with some stuff. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Also, I have a great respect for physicians of any kind; I just felt I needed someone Jordan could vent her anger to, hence the jerk of a surgeon. _

**Disclaimer –I don't own 'em (though I would've treated them a heck of a lot better!) It's just for fun and to keep the memory alive. Please R&R! Thanks for reading!**

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**Chapter Three – Waiting**

Jordan paced the hallway of Boston General's surgical ward, much like she had all those months ago when Woody was shot. It had been 3 hours since the chopper had brought Garret in and she still hadn't heard a word from his surgeon. Everything had happened so fast, she still wasn't sure she was grasping all the information given to her. The doctor in her understood the severity of Garret's injuries, but the friend in her couldn't comprehend how bad his situation could really end up being.

So she waited. And she paced. And she waited some more. The nurses had tried to joke with her about wearing a path in the floor, but she barely heard them. Her mind was too busy trying to sort out all the little details she had to remember.

She hadn't been able to get in touch with Abby or Maggie. She'd left an urgent message for Renee, whom she'd been told was in court. She's spoken briefly to Lily. She'd managed not to break down even as she listened to Lily cry on the other end of the line. She'd been able to tell Lily what had happened; that Bug was fine and on the second chopper, not with her at the hospital. Madeline was sleeping, so Jordan told Lily to meet her at the hospital in a couple hours; hopefully in time to greet Bug and the others. She'd phoned the morgue and told Emy what had happened. She asked Emy to pass along the information to the other employees. She'd phoned BPD and relayed all the information to Woody's captain. He said he would let Woody's co-workers know, and asked that Woody please call him when the chopper landed; he wanted to speak with Woody personally.

Now all she could do was wait. And pace. And wait some more.

She silently cursed the doctor for not sending her word of how Garret's surgery was going. To know he was still alive would have been a relief at this point. She didn't want to tell Abby and Maggie and Renee and Lily she didn't have any information. And she wanted something to pass along to her friends when they arrived in the second helicopter.

She reached for her cell phone for what seemed like the hundredth time before she remembered it was lost somewhere on the mountain.

"Crap," she swore under her breath. She vaguely wondered again where the second chopper was and why she hadn't seen her friends. She clenched and unclenched her fists, wishing her hands had something to do other than get tangled in her hair. She could feel her control starting to slip. She stopped moving and leaned her forehead against the coolness of the hospital wall. She concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths, and willed her knees not to turn to jelly. _Come on Cavanaugh, you've been through worse than this and held it together, _she scolded herself. She shoved her hands into her hair and let the anger wash over her. _That's right, get mad. Mad keeps you going. Mad makes you think things through. Mad keeps you rational. Mad doesn't let you break down and cry like a baby. _

She was still talking herself into her anger when Lily found her moments later.

"Jordan!" she called.

Jordan's head snapped up at the sound of her name. She turned to see Lily running down the hospital hallway towards her. She pushed herself away from the wall and wrapped her arms around her friend. Lily grabbed her and held on for dear life. Finally, she let Jordan go then sat in the nearest chair, hoping Jordan would take it as a sign she could sit and relax for a moment.

Jordan sat. She felt Lily wrap her fingers around hers and squeeze her hand gently.

"He crashed, Lily. He crashed in the E.R." Her voice trembled; she stopped, took a breath and continued on.

"He was fine during the flight. His vitals were good; they thought his bleed had slowed enough to allow for more tests. And then they moved him. Started prepping for ultrasounds and surgery and _bang_ his stats bottomed out and he stopped breathing. They almost had to shock him."

She closed her eyes, swallowed hard to steady her voice. "They asked me to leave the room, and the next thing I know he's heading for surgery. They wouldn't let me talk to him. The surgeon said he'd be in to talk to me when it was over. I haven't seen anyone since, and it's been almost four hours."

She felt Lily's hand tighten around hers. She opened her eyes and pulled out the yellow piece of paper and showed the crumpled ball to Lily. "He told me to hang on to this. Only look at it if something went wrong. I don't know whether I should be reading it or not."

Lily glanced at the paper; felt fingers of fear dance along her spine.

"No. Not now. Only if something goes wrong. And as far as we know, nothing has gone wrong, right? No news is good news?" Lily squeezed her hand again, and Jordan knew her friend was having a hard time convincing herself of her own words.

Jordan nodded. She tried to tell herself she was never going to have to relay what ever information was written on that paper to Garret's friends and family.

She sighed, leaned back in her chair, looking at Lily from the corner of her eye. She sat up again suddenly. "Lily, where's Madeline?"

Lily's eyes grew wide with shock for a moment and then she let out a squeak of laughter. "I left her with Emy and the staff at the morgue. They offered to watch her for a couple hours while I came here. God, I almost forgot where I left my daughter!"

Jordan knew she shouldn't be laughing at something so serious, but she couldn't help it. All the sleepless hours and the stress of the situation finally took its toll and she dissolved in a fit of giggles. Lily smiled at her friend, happy she was relaxing a little, but also knowing all to well the first signs of the trauma that was catching up with Jordan. She'd gone through the same motions when the terrorists had bombed the lawyers' offices four years ago.

"Why don't you close your eyes, try and get some rest, Jordan. I'll be right here. I'll wake you if the doctor comes out."

Jordan looked at her is if she were crazy then sighed.

"Yeah, I guess I could lie down for a minute. You promise to wake me if I fall asleep? And I want to talk to that damned surgeon if you see him stroll by here. Name's Roberts." She waited for Lily to nod her agreement, then got up and moved across the hall to a lumpy looking loveseat. Without another word, Jordan curled her long frame as best she could onto the couch, closed her eyes and let her mind drift away.

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Lily watched as Jordan's face slowly relaxed into sleep. She was surprised when Jordan agreed to lie down; she fully expected to have to use some kind of force or threat to get her to relax for a few minutes. She glanced at her watch, noting the amount of time she'd been there, and reminding herself what time she needed to leave to pick up Madeline. She checked her cell phone again for any voice messages from the morgue, and, satisfied that all was well for the moment, sat back and picked up a magazine from the table beside her chair.

She flipped through the pages, settled on an article about Hollywood moms and their babies. She glanced idly at the words, realized vaguely how cute the babies were then tossed the magazine aside in frustration. Trying to focus was pointless. She was concerned about Garret, but knew that with injuries that extensive his surgery was bound to be long. And she was beginning to worry about Bug and the rest of her friends. Jordan had told her almost five hours ago that the second chopper would be at the hospital soon. Still they had no word on where it was or when it was coming in. And Lily didn't have the first clue who to talk to to get that information.

She thought of Bug; wondered if he was as scared as she. Her mind flipped back to the moment Emy had phoned her with the news the plane had gone off the radar. She hadn't panicked until she'd learned it was lost over the White Mountains. Then, with speed and efficiency she hadn't known she possessed, she packed up Madeline and the diaper bag, loaded them in her car and sped as safely as she could to the morgue to await further news of her friends' fate.

She'd wandered the halls of the eerily silent morgue, Madeline in her arms, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She'd stopped at each of her friends' desks, willing her mind to remember a happy or funny moment she'd shared with each of them. She'd finally ended up in the lunch room, where so many memories, good and not, had taken place. She'd closed her eyes, letting the tears fall as her grief and worry washed over her. Finally she'd moved to Garret's office, as it was the quietest, and set up Madeline's playpen. She rocked her baby girl in her arms, telling her how much her daddy loved her and missed her, and when Madeline closed her eyes, she put the sleeping infant down inside her temporary bed and covered her with her favourite blanket. She swallowed the tears that caught in her throat as she performed the same task Bug had, night after night. She told herself he'd soon be home to continue the bedtime tradition with his daughter. When she was sure Madeline had settled into sleep, she flopped onto the couch, then pulled a blanket over herself and drifted into a fitful sleep.

She'd stayed at the morgue, sleeping on Garret's couch, awaiting news of her friends, for three days. She'd gone home only for a shower and to get more supplies for Madeline.

She remembered walking into the lobby of the morgue that morning, seeing Emy's face, and knowing that her friends had been found. Her joy was short lived however, when Emy told her she didn't have any information about whether there were survivors. So she took her baby girl, and went back to Garret's office, where she could try and sort out her thoughts and come to terms with the fact that Bug and the others may not be coming back to her after all. She'd stayed there, like that, all morning, until the ringing of her cell phone startled her back to life. Her heart pounded with fear at the sight of 'Boston General' on her call display. She thought briefly of not answering the call then told her self it was better to know, regardless of what the news was. She'd nearly passed out with relief when she heard Jordan's voice. Instead, she'd burst into tears, and had to struggle for control as she listened to Jordan relay the information she'd been so desperately waiting to hear.

She barely remembered Emy coming into Garret's office and offering to stay with Madeline. The drive to the hospital was a little clearer; she'd told herself to stay focused on the road. Her friends didn't need to arrive home only to discover she'd been hurt trying to get to them. She didn't think she'd ever been so happy to see anyone as she was to see Jordan pacing the hallways of Boston General's surgical ward.

She shook herself out of her reverie, then got up from her chair and began to pace the same path Jordan had been pacing not too long ago. She told herself she wasn't pacing, just moving to keep her blood flowing and her mind alert, then laughed at herself. Who was she trying to kid? She'd done this same thing when her mother had been in the hospital. She'd been sick with worry then, just as she was now, only then the outcome had been anything but happy. . . .

She told herself history was not going to repeat itself. Her friends were going to be fine. Just fine.

They had to be.


	4. News

_Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for all your wonderful reviews! Your comments keep me inspired!_

_And again, to those of you with medical backgrounds, I apologize if I'm off with some stuff. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Also, I have a great respect for physicians of any kind; I just felt I needed someone Jordan could vent her anger to, hence the jerk of a surgeon. _

**Disclaimer –I don't own 'em (though I would've treated them a heck of a lot better!) It's just for fun and to keep the memory alive. Please R&R! Thanks for reading!**

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**Chapter Four - News**

She was flying. Finally taking that African Safari vacation she'd dreamed of for so long. She could see the beauty of the African landscape below her. Miles and miles of country she'd never seen; animals she'd never seen. It was so beautiful it took her breath away.

Something in the distance caught her eye, but she couldn't quite make out what it was. She squinted, trying to get a better glimpse of whatever it was. She blinked, hard, to clear her vision then opened her eyes again. Whatever it was, it was gone, but now the beautiful African landscape was covered in blinding white snow. She looked desperately around the plane's cabin, searching for someone to yell at, to tell of their wrong course, but there was no one. Just rows and rows of empty seats. She got up from her seat, blindly running for the cockpit, looking for the captain. She stopped, breathing hard, as she realized she was all alone on the plane, with no one to right its course. But that couldn't be right. She was sure she could hear someone calling her name. "Jordan . . . . Jordan . . . ." She gasped as she looked out the front windows and realized the plane was heading straight for the mountain wall in front of her . . . .

"JORDAN!"

She sat up quickly, gasping for air. She blinked several times, and was finally able to bring Lily's worried face into focus.

"Jordan. It's okay. You're okay. It was just a dream." Lily was rubbing her shoulder and holding her hand, trying desperately to calm her down.

Finally, she caught her breath and leaned back on the loveseat. "Have you heard from the doctor?"

"Jordan, I think you should . . ."

"I'm fine, Lily." Jordan snapped back at her. "Have you heard any news about Garret?"

"No. No one's come through looking for you." She paused, glanced at her watch. "Um, Jordan? Do you know how to get in touch with the crew of the second rescue helicopter? Because I have to leave to get Madeline soon, and I really want to be here when Bug comes home. No one's come to talk to us about that, either."

Jordan looked at her blankly for a moment, let fresh anger wash over her. "Damn it! What the hell could be taking them so long? They were right behind us when we took off." She didn't add that the threat of the incoming storm could very well have hindered the second half of the rescue attempt. She shuddered slightly then reminded herself she would have heard if the rescue had been aborted. And no one had told her anything.

"Kelly. That's the name of the flight nurse that brought Garret in. I'll see if I can get in touch with her somehow and find out what's going on. You stay here and wait for Dr. No-updates and I'll go talk to the nurses, see if they can track down Kelly." She didn't wait for Lily's nod of agreement, just turned and jogged down the hall to the nurses' station.

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It was twenty minutes before she was able to get back to Lily. And all she had was more frustration no more information. She wasn't allowed to talk to Kelly, but the nurse had left a message for her to check in when she was at the hospital next. The nurse admitted it could be hours before Kelly was able to check her messages.

_Great,_ Jordan thought. _That's all we need is more waiting, more stress, more endless questions with no freaking answers. Why the hell can't we just find out what's going on?_ She watched Lily as she stalked back down the hall. She watched her friend wring her hands, shake them out, wring them again. She played with her jewelry a lot when she was nervous, too, twisting her necklace around her fingers and nibbling on her bottom lip.

Lily looked up when she hear Jordan approach, her eyes alight with hope. Jordan shook her head, shrugged her shoulders.

"They can't get a hold of Kelly, the flight nurse, right now. Best they can do is leave a message and hope she'll check for it next time she's in." She watched Lily closely, noticing the tears glistening in her eyes again. "They can't be too far out, Lil. They were right behind me and Garret. Maybe they had to land at a smaller facility, or they're here, but can't get word to us. Nige had a bad gash on his arm; Bug's probably with him, making sure everything gets sorted out."

Lily smiled at her, sadly, laid a hand on Jordan's arm. "He would have called, Jordan. He's not here. He's not anywhere near a phone. He would have called," she repeated softly.

Jordan nodded. She knew this, of course. Just as she knew there was no way any of them could be in the same hospital and not be doing everything in their power to get to her and Lily and Garret. At the very least, they would have found out where Garret was and they'd have sent a message to the nurses' station. She ran her hands through her hair again, tried not to pace. God, why couldn't Kelly just get back to her and then she and Lily would know, one way or the other, what had happened to their friends?

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Dr. Steven Roberts wasn't a big man, but he had an authoritative air about him that he consciously used to intimidate people he felt were being too emotional or clingy. He was a surgeon for crying out loud, not God, yet people still expected him to perform miracles. He loved what he did, saving lives, but he hated the moments like this when he had to deliver bad news to the family members of his patients. He especially hated it when those family members were female. Usually it meant he was going to have to endure a crying, hysterical woman hanging off his lab coat, drenching it with tears, while he waited for the nurses to come and peel her off of him. At the very least, they looked at him like he was the scum of the earth and didn't deserve to turn his back on them and walk away to live the rest of his life.

Today wasn't going to be any different, by the looks of things. The two exhausted looking females were the only people in the waiting room, and since the Macy case had been the only surgery for today, he could safely assume both women were friends or family members of the patient. He recognized the tall brunette from the emergency room. She been damned near hysterical there, demanding every second to know what the emergency staff was doing to Macy. When Macy had crashed, Dr. Roberts thought the brunette was going to collapse. The redhead he didn't know, but she looked fragile. He sighed then opened his mouth to give them the bad news.

"Miss Cavanaugh."

She whirled at the sound of another voice; was startled to see Garret's surgeon standing before her. All her pent up anger and frustration for the surgeon threatened to explode from her as she took in his resigned look. It was the look of a man who hated dealing with family members. That just pissed her off more.

"It's _Doctor_ Cavanaugh." A flicker of surprise showed in Dr. Roberts' eyes. "And I assume you have some news about Garret. Nice of you to finally show your face and come to talk to us. At the very least, you could have sent a nurse out here to give us an update. We've been waiting damned near six hours with no news from you!" Jordan hated the smug know-it-all look on Dr. Roberts face. She'd met many surgeons in her pre-med days and most of them didn't give a damn about the people waiting outside the O.R. And most of them hated handling the family members – the grieving were unpredictable and not easily diagnosed.

He was momentarily taken aback by her clarification of her name. He shrugged the feeling off quickly; 'Doctor' could mean a lot of things. He doubted she had any amount of medical background – she seemed too edgy to have the patience of a physician. He continued on.

"Mr. Macy had extensive internal injuries sustained from his accident and the lack of immediate medical attention didn't help matters. There was a significant amount of blood loss and we had some difficulty getting it under control. We were able to repair the damage the broken rib caused, but he's in a coma. I'm not sure when, or if, he'll regain consciousness. You should contact his family, if there is any. Check with the nurses' station if you want to know what room he's in." He turned to walk away from the women, exhausted from the surgery and stress of the notification.

"So that's it?" Jordan demanded to his retreating back. "Just 'he's in a coma – deal with it?' Not good enough! How many ribs were broken? What's the risk of infection or re-injury due to bone fragments? Did you remove his spleen? Did he need a transfusion? What about potential brain damage from his crash in the E.R.?"

Dr. Roberts turned back to her, clearly surprised at her level of knowledge and demand for answers.

"Exactly what kind of doctor are you?" He inquired.

"I'm a medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. _Doctor_ Macy is my boss and the Chief M.E. And for the record, he didn't receive immediate medical attention after the _plane crash _because he didn't tell us he was hurt until the next day. And we wereunable to get him to a hospital, because we were stranded on a mountain in the middle of no where! God, don't you people do a history anymore, or do you just jump right in, ready to play the hero?"

Understanding dawned in Dr. Roberts' eyes, and he actually felt some sympathy for the woman. She, perhaps, knew better than anyone how deadly Macy's injuries still could be. It was suddenly a little harder for the surgeon to dismiss the fiery brunette; her knowledge of the human body would make it nearly impossible for her to take comfort in any information he provided her.

"No, he didn't lose his spleen; we were able to repair it. There weren't any bone fragments that we could see; the rib had a clean break. Yes, he had a transfusion; several, in fact, so he's very weak and his clotting ability will be diminished for some time. We won't know the extent of brain damage, or if there is any, until he wakes from his coma – if he does." He watched an expression of dread cross Jordan's face and he knew he was confirming her worst fears.

She nodded silently then turned and walked away, leaving Dr. Roberts in the unfamiliar position of not knowing what to do next. He watched her for a moment then cleared his throat.

"If you have any further questions, you can have the nurses page me. I'll be in tomorrow to check on Dr. Macy."

"Thank you," came the whispered reply, but the women were too busy comforting each other to acknowledge him further. He turned and slowly walked down the hall towards the elevators.

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Jordan was sitting with her head in her hands, elbows on her knees, still trying to absorb the information Dr. Roberts had given her. Lily had gone back to the morgue. She had all ready taken longer at the hospital than she had anticipated, and had to get back to relieve Emy of Madeline. Jordan had promised to call the second she heard anything about the second chopper and their friends' fate. Lily said she'd be back at the hospital in the morning, if not before. Now Jordan was left to sit alone to wait more endless hours for news she was sure she didn't want to hear.

"Jordan." Said a soft voice.

Jordan looked up, startled, to see Kelly kneeling beside her. Relief flickered in her eyes. The relief was quickly replaced by fear, though, when she saw the expression on Kelly's face. She closed her eyes, squeezing them tight to hold back the tears.

"I haven't been able to gain any information for you about your friends' flight. It looks like they made it off the mountain, but where they went from there, we're not sure. We lost contact with them shortly after lift off. We know they were short on fuel, and with that storm moving in they may have made an emergency landing somewhere near by. We don't know why we haven't heard from them, but I'll keep checking on the situation and I'll let you know the second I have any more information." She laid a hand on Jordan's shoulder.

"You'll be here?" Jordan nodded silently. "Okay then. If I can't get the information to you personally, I'll make sure one of the nurses passes the message along to you." Her hand tightened ever so slightly on Jordan's shoulder. "We'll find them. I promise you." Her hand slipped slowly away, and Jordan heard her quiet footsteps as she left the waiting area.

_Un-fucking-believable_, Jordan thought to herself. She got up from her chair, leaned against the cool glass of the waiting room window. She watched the sun start to slip below the horizon; thought of the sunrise she had shared with Woody just this morning. It seemed so long ago now. She ached to see him, hold him, kiss him.

She didn't know whether to laugh, cry or scream at the irony of the situation. 12 hours ago she had basically given up hope of ever being rescued; she'd made peace with her life. Now everything was in turmoil again. Now she was wondering if she'd lost more people she loved. Now she was praying with everything she had that her friends had made it out alive as well, and that wherever they were, they were warm and had food to put in their bellies. She couldn't, however, put one haunting thought out of her head:

If they were safe, _why hadn't they phoned?_


	5. Wishing

_Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for all your wonderful reviews! Your comments keep me inspired! And thank you also to the wonderful ladies of CJ:VS7 Let's keep the memories alive!_

**Disclaimer –I don't own 'em (though I would've treated them a heck of a lot better!) It's just for fun and to keep the memory alive. Please R&R! Thanks for reading!**

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**Chapter Five – Wishing**

Woody stood shivering in the cool evening mountain air. He drew his flight suit jacket closer around him and breathed into his cupped hands in an effort to keep them warm. He thought of Jordan, hoped she was safe and warm. He figured by now she would have at least spoken with Lily; maybe she'd even gotten in touch with Garret's family and Woody's captain. He chuckled to himself, knowing full well Jordan would have made every phone call she could think of in an effort to keep her hands busy and her mind off of Garret's ailing health.

He wondered how Garret was doing; hoped his surgery had gone well. He hoped Jordan had let someone check her out; at the very least he hoped she'd drunk some water and put some food in her belly.

He wished he could talk to her; hear the music of her laughter, the intimate sound of her voice. He wished he could wrap her tightly in is arms, feel the heat of her body, taste the sweetness of her kiss.

He closed his eyes and remembered the way her honey eyes darkened to the colour of sweet chocolate that morning when she told him she loved him.

He could scarcely believe it had been barely 12 hours since his whole life was turned upside down. He'd accepted the fact that he would be spending his last days on that mountain, leaving so many things unfinished, unsaid. Then she'd sat down, looked into his eyes, and made time stop. In that instant, those three little words changed everything.

_And you didn't do anything about it, Hoyt._ He shook his head in anger. He knew how he felt about her; he'd known after the bank robbery when she'd told him she hated his tie. He loved that brutal honesty about her; loved that she put herself out there when it came to helping others, but kept so much of herself buried. She was like a mystery he couldn't unravel. Well, now the mystery was solved. He knew exactly how she felt, and it had thrown him for such a loop, he didn't know what to say. So he'd said nothing.

All this time he'd been using her feelings against her, using them as the excuse not to have a relationship with her. The only other time she'd admitted anything was that day in his hospital room. And when he'd brought it up, she looked so shocked that he'd heard her, he'd decided she must have said it out of fear and pity. This time, he realized, she had not said it out of fear. She had not said it out of pity or regret. She had been completely honest about her reasons for admitting her feelings. She'd even told him she didn't expect anything in return.

_How could I have been so stupid? _Regret filled his gut. He was so sure once they revealed their feelings for each other, everything would change. The friendship, the trust, the companionship. How could they keep all that and be lovers, too? He sighed. He'd let his own vulnerability get in the way of something beautiful. He wouldn't do that any more, couldn't do that anymore. He'd lose her and everything she meant to him if he did. _She was right – she __**has**__ grown up. I just hope she realizes I have, too. _

Suddenly he wanted, _needed_, more than anything, to get out of there. He needed to see her, touch her, feel her. He needed to hear those words again. He needed to feel his gut clench and his breath catch and his heart slam against his ribs.

God, he missed her.

He shook his head to clear it, realized the sun was starting to fall beneath the horizon. He hoped if Jordan was near a window, that she was watching the same colours streak across the sky, remembering the sunrise they'd shared this morning. _This morning._ It seemed like a lifetime ago. Just this morning he had watched a new day dawn with her. Just this morning his life had been forever changed. Now he was alone again and he could only pray he'd see her soon.

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Bug sat quietly inside, watching the evening sky brighten with the colours of the mountain sunset. He contemplated how and why sunsets seemed to be more brilliant in cool air; how the crisp white snow blanket on the mountains seemed to make the colours sharper, clearer.

He wondered if Lily was watching the sunset. He knew she would have put Madeline down for the night by now. He wondered what she was doing, what she was thinking. He hoped she wasn't worrying too much, but he knew that she was. _At least she'll have seen Jordan, talked to her._ He knew the two women would have stayed at the hospital as long as they were able, waiting for word of the second chopper, and conferring with Dr. Macy's physicians. He felt a pang of regret when he realized Lily would have gone rushing to the hospital to greet everyone, only to be told he and the others wouldn't be coming home today.

He closed his eyes, imagined he was holding her, inhaling the sweet smell of her perfume combined with the scent of Madeline's delicate baby skin. It was so uniquely Lily. He breathed deeply and could almost believe he was back in his apartment, surrounded by baby blankets, squeaky toys, and the squeals of a beautifully happy baby.

_I'm a dad_, he thought. The realization hit him with such force, he could barely breathe. He'd been so busy the last couple months, going about his business; working, helping Lily, putting Madeline to bed at night, that he hadn't really had time to reflect on the changes in his life and what they meant to him. He knew he had two other people to think about, to take care of; but what it all meant, he hadn't really considered. The other night before he'd climbed the mountain with Woody was the first time he'd really realized he had someone other than himself counting on him. He'd needed to take action, to leave a legacy, even if it meant he had to die trying.

He wasn't a man of impulse. If anything, he thought things through too much. But when he'd told Lily she and Madeline were moving in with him, he'd spoken purely from his heart. He'd said it because he'd loved Lily for as long as he could remember. He wanted to be with her; wanted to raise a family with her. It didn't matter that he wasn't the biological father of her baby. He'd walked away once; he couldn't, wouldn't walk away again. He couldn't, wouldn't walk away from that. And now he had a family to take care of; a family that was counting on him coming home to them.

_They count on me to keep them safe, keep food in their bellies, keep them warm at night. I'm responsible for keeping them happy and healthy. I'm responsible for their lives_. He contemplated that for a moment, then came to a realization so immediate it felt like he'd been struck by lightening. _I have two beautiful people to share my life with, and I am never, ever going to let them go. I'll take my last breaths fighting for them, fighting to be with them. _He looked at the last streaking colours of the sunset; made up his mind what he needed to do.

_I have a daughter. And, soon, hopefully, I'll have a wife._

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Nigel lay on his back. His injured arm, wrapped in fresh bandages and a new sling, was draped across his midsection. He was trying to keep it still; it was less painful that way. They'd determined on examination that his arm was fractured, but not badly enough to need a cast; they'd braced it instead. He'd needed seventeen stitches to close the gash. And the local anesthetic they'd used when they'd sutured his arm was wearing off. Eric, the helicopter pilot, had given him some ibuprofen to help with the pain, but it wasn't enough.

He closed his eyes, his mind reflecting back on the last few days. He was worried about Dr. M. He knew Jordan would have gotten him medical attention by now, but he had a sick feeling in his gut that the outcome wasn't going to be what they all hoped. Dr. M. was in far more pain than he'd let on, which meant his injuries were much worse than any of them anticipated.

He wondered how Jordan was holding up. She was strong, but he knew if anything happened to Dr. M. it would tear her apart. They'd been through so much together. She trusted him completely, and Jordan didn't trust anyone completely. She did the opposite of everything Dr. M. told her, but at the end of it all, she still respected his decisions; she just didn't necessarily agree with them. They made an excellent team because of that.

He could almost picture her, pacing the halls of Boston General, hands shoved in her long chestnut hair, driving the nurses crazy with her constant movement. Eric had told them he'd sent word to his co-workers about what had happened, so at least Jordan and Lily wouldn't have to worry about what had happened to their friends. They could concentrate on taking care of themselves and making sure Dr. M. got everything he needed.

Regardless of Dr. M.'s fate, he reckoned Jordan would need Woody more than ever now. He hadn't missed the intimate way Woody had wrapped her in his arms and kissed her before she boarded the helicopter. Something had happened between the two of them up on that mountain, and whatever it was it looked like they were finally on the same page with their feelings for each other. Nigel sincerely hoped so. They both deserved to be happy; they'd been through so much in their lives. Now if only they didn't go screwing it up!

He opened his eyes, caught the last few rays of the sun dipping below the horizon. He loved that time of day, when the sun and the earth became one before blackness overtook everything again. He shivered a little in the cool mountain air; contemplated getting up and grabbing a blanket to put over him. He started to move, but the pain in his arm stopped him. Nope, he'd be staying right where he was for the time being. He'd ask Kate for a blanket when she came back.

Kate. Who'd have thought he'd have feelings for someone with such a prickly personality? He chuckled to himself. They'd come along way from her screaming about her stolen car and threatening to feed a thug's kidneys to her dog. Since then, she'd revealed bits and pieces about herself to him that he was sure she hadn't told anyone else at the morgue. He took a selfish kind of comfort in that. When they got back, he'd have to take his own relationship advice and make sure Kate knew he felt more than friendship for her.

He closed his eyes again; let his mind drift away to dreams of the celebration that would take place when they made it home to Boston. With any luck, the celebration would include a declaration of love.

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Kate stood just outside the doorway, watching Nigel. She saw his eyelids flicker shut again, waited a few moments then entered. She was glad he finally seemed to be getting some rest; she'd been worried the painkillers weren't strong enough to dull his pain so he could sleep.

She quietly set down the things she had collected for them. Things she'd need to take care of his injury for the next 12 hours or so: bandages, ibuprofen tablets, saline solution to keep the wound clean, ointment to keep the stitches from getting too itchy. And things to keep them going until they could get the hell out of there: bottles of water, energy bars, dried fruit. She'd even managed to round up some toothbrushes and toothpaste. She'd dropped off some supplies to Woody and Bug, too, both of whom had been very grateful.

Now she sat, stress and exhaustion finally taking its toll. She wondered briefly how Dr. Macy was doing; hoped his surgery had gone well and that Jordan wasn't driving him insane by hovering over him. She hoped Jordan was taking care of herself and not just worrying herself over Dr. Macy. She needed to stay hydrated, or she'd find herself in a hospital bed, hooked up to an I.V.

Kate shook her head, amused and slightly annoyed with herself. _Since when do you care so much?_ She thought. _Since Dr. Macy told me he trusted me with Jordan's post-surgery care; since I delivered Lily's baby; since I realized I admire the way Nigel sees good in everything._

She'd never expected to find a home in Boston, Massachusetts. But she'd gotten one. Complete with people that fought to the bitter end for each other; people who loved each other; people who were family, regardless of the fact there were no blood relations. She'd never experienced anything like that before. Sure, she had friends. But no one she could say with absolute certainty would die for her. The morgue staff had shown her first hand that they were willing to die for her; to die for each other. Nigel had been seriously injured trying to hold onto her as the plane went down. Dr. Macy wasn't even supposed to be on that plane; he should have been en route to his Tuscany vacation, yet there he was, with his team. Jordan stepped in and took control when she realized Kate was relying on her Xanax to keep her going. And she'd never forget Woody and Bug climbing the mountain in the dead of night, risking their lives to try and contact help.

Before the d-mort flight, she'd been considering giving the governor her resignation; she was letting her co-workers get too close, and she felt that compromised her ability to do her job. Now she realized it kept her going, gave her something to look forward to everyday. She enjoyed bickering with Nigel, and tormenting Bug with how fast she could perform an autopsy. She'd even willingly re-opened an old case for Woody, simply because he'd asked her to, and because she knew someone's life could depend on her findings. She hadn't felt connections like this in a very long time.

Yes, she had a home there. She had friends, potentially good friends. She made a pact with herself that when she made it back to Boston, she was going to let a little of the old Kate back in; let go of the heartache and allow the walls to crumble, just a bit. She was going to try and be herself again.

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Eric Donaldson woke with a start to his cell phone ringing shrilly next to his ear. He grabbed it, quickly becoming fully awake as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. He nodded, jotting down a few notes on the paper next to his bed.

"Yeah, okay, I'll tell them. Thanks for letting me know." He flipped his phone shut then quickly went to the bathroom where he showered and brushed his teeth. He threw on his pilot's suit and shoes, grabbed his wallet, keys and the note he'd written, and headed out the door.

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Woody was jerked awake from the nap he'd laughingly called sleep, to someone pounding on his hotel room door. He glanced over at Bug, noticed he'd been startled by the noise, too. He barely registered the 5:38 am time on the alarm clock.

"Woody, open up, it's Eric! I have some news for you!"

Woody exchanged a quick glance with Bug, threw on his flight suit pants and jerked open the door to see Eric waving a piece of paper in the air. Woody almost laughed at the childish excitement radiating off of Eric. His green eyes sparkled with happiness.

"Got you guys on a 7:00am Greyhound heading for Boston, Massachusetts. Have to get you to the station by 6:30. Don't know about breakfast, but you'll have time for some caffeine." He was still grinning like a little kid at Christmas. Woody had the sudden urge to hug him. Instead, he grabbed his hand, shook it firmly, making sure he conveyed his gratitude with the gesture.

"Thank you, Eric. Thank you so much, for everything. You have no idea what this means to us. We'll never forget everything you've done for us."

Eric shrugged his strong shoulders. "All in a days work."

Bug cut in. "No, it wasn't. You risked everything to get us off that mountain when you should have just turned around and gone straight back to your base, waited out the storm. You didn't have to do what you did. We'll be forever grateful for the risk you took."

Eric shrugged again. "Didn't see the point of turning around, going home, with no passengers. I had to navigate the storm anyway, might as well get you guys out of harm's way while I was doing it. Besides, I've flown in worse." There was that grin again, infectious, breaking the seriousness of the moment.

Bug stepped forward and shook his hand, too. "Thank you. I'll never forget this."

Eric nodded then jerked his head towards the next door in the hotel hall. "Think the other two will be as happy to be woken up as you two were?"

Woody laughed. "I don't think they'll have a problem with this wake-up call. With all the noise we've been making, it'll be a miracle if they're still asleep at all!"

Eric laughed then moved down the hall to wake Kate and Nigel.

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Twenty minutes later, the four of them were seated in the hotel diner, enjoying the first cups of coffee they'd had in days. They were even managing to make time for some eggs, bacon and toast; the bus station was only a block away from the hotel. They didn't talk much; each was lost in their own thoughts and relief at finally being able to go home.

Eric had given them their bus tickets, told them even though it was only about a 2-1/2 hour drive, it would take them about 4 hours to get there by bus. They should be home by lunchtime. When questioned as to why he wasn't coming with them, he replied, "Someone's gotta get my bird home! Besides, I have to wait for the mechanic to take a look at the electronics. Can't fly with no communication!"

It wasn't until Woody looked at his bus ticket that he realized where he'd spent the last 12 hours. He'd been so frustrated and worried that he'd never asked Eric where they were; now he knew. Littleton, New Hampshire. He almost laughed out loud. _Littleton,_ he thought. _Unbelievable._ The chances of getting stranded because of a snowstorm for the second time had to be slim to none. But the chances of getting stranded in a snowstorm in a place named _Littleton_ for the second time; well he couldn't even begin to calculate the odds of that one. He laughed softly to himself. He couldn't wait to tell Jordan.

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Jordan awoke to the sound of the nurse coming in to check Garret's vitals yet again. They were coming in every hour, checking on him, making sure there was nothing more to be concerned about. Although he was still in a coma, his situation had not gotten any worse.

She glanced at her watch: 8:13 am. _Well, that's good,_ she thought. _The last time I remember a nurse coming in it was just after 5:00 am._ _Guess I caught a couple hours of sleep._ She shifted uncomfortably in the reclining chair the nurses had set up for her in a corner of Garret's room. Critical Care Unit patients weren't supposed to have visitors spend the night, but considering the situation, the nurses had allowed her to stay.

She got up quietly, letting the nurse perform her duties, and stepped out of the room. The sun was up, barely, soft streaks of pink and orange still coloured the sky. She headed for the bathroom to wash her face, brush her teeth. She'd purchased a toothbrush and paste, a hairbrush, and some deodorant from the hospital gift shop last night. Today, once Lily had arrived, she planned to go home to her apartment, grab a shower and change into some clean clothes. In the mean time, she would at least feel halfway human.

When she was finished, she made her way back to Garret's room. The smell of dozens of hospital breakfasts filled the air, made her stomach rumble with hunger. She'd managed to swallow a bagel and a bottle of water from the cafeteria around midnight; discovered she was more thirsty than hungry. Now the real hunger pains were starting. She'd go back to Garret's room, put her stuff away and grab a quick bite to eat before Lily arrived.

The nurse was waiting for her when she got back to Garret's room. She was holding a plate of bacon and eggs, toast and a fresh melon slice. She all but shoved it at Jordan.

"Eat," She ordered. She held up her hand when Jordan started to protest. "I know all about your little jaunt downstairs in the dead of night, but that's not real food. You were stranded on a mountain for three days, Jordan. Please eat. You're not going to be any help to Garret if you land your butt on a gurney in the E.R. suffering from dehydration."

Jordan felt her cheeks heat slightly. She glanced at the name tag the nurse wore: Judy. She smiled as she took the plate of food. "Thank you." She said, simply. Judy nodded, satisfied Jordan had done what she asked, and strode out of the room.

Jordan sat down in the reclining chair and proceeded to eat her breakfast. _I must be hungry, if hospital food tastes good. Even the coffee's not too bad._ She sipped it slowly, savouring the flavour. It wasn't long before she could feel the effects of the caffeine, and it gave her the energy she needed to tidy up Garret's room so her overnight stay wasn't obvious. Then she fished some quarters Lily had given her out of her pocket and wandered down the hall to the pay phone. She needed to try and reach Maggie and Abby again. Once she'd finished her chores, she headed back to Garret's room, grabbed a magazine from the rack and settled in to wait for Lily.

It was after 11 o'clock before Lily came rushing down the hall, diaper bag slung over her shoulder. She gripped an infant car seat in her hand, Madeline swaddled safely inside it.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, Jordan. Madeline had a rough night; it was nearly 3:30 before she went to sleep. Then we both slept in . . ." She put her stuff down hurriedly, trying to untangle herself from all that she carried. Jordan stepped forward to help her. "I didn't think it was fair to leave her with Emy today; she didn't have much Mommy time yesterday and she's cranky from the lack of sleep. If it gets too much, I'll take her home."

"Lily, you don't have to be here. I don't have to go home. I freshened up in the bathroom; got some supplies from the gift shop with the money you lent me."

"No. I need to be here. I need to know what's going on. I'm tired of sitting at the morgue, waiting for the phone to ring."

Jordan nodded. She'd figured as much. She led Lily to the waiting area down the hall from Garret's room, so as not to get in the way of the nurses. As they walked, she let Lily know nothing had changed with Garret overnight, and although he hadn't come out of his coma, the fact that he'd made it through the night with no incidents was good news. When Lily had Madeline settled in her seat on the floor, napping again, Jordan filled her in on the information Kelly had given her the night before.

Jordan watched the emotions dance across Lily's face. She could see Lily was feeling much the same way Jordan had when Kelly told her no one knew where the second chopper, with her friends on board, had disappeared to.

"So we essentially don't have any more information than we did last night. How can that be?" Lily looked imploringly at Jordan. "How can a rescue chopper just disappear? They must be able to trace a locating device or something."

Jordan sighed, the little energy she had left quickly draining out of her. "Kelly said she'd get in touch with me this morning, after she checked in with her co-pilots. She's hoping someone saw something, heard something, anything that will –"

"Oh, my God!" It came out as a breathless rush, and at the same time Lily was launching herself to her feet and running down the hall.

Jordan looked up in time to see Lily launch herself at Bug, who was standing in the middle of the hallway, tears streaming down his face. He wrapped Lily in his arms, rocking her back and forth, his lips exploring every inch of her face.

Close behind Bug were Kate and Nigel, his injured arm wrapped in what looked like fresh bandages and a sling. He hugged Jordan to him with his good arm, whispered "Hello, Luv," into her hair. Jordan let out a shaky laugh and hugged him back, hard. He let her go and she reached for Kate, giving her a quick hug and a "Welcome Home."

She opened her mouth to ask what had happened to them when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye.

Time stood still. She stared for a moment, scared to blink, scared to breathe; scared she was hallucinating again.

She stepped forward, making her way toward him, her steps slow, deliberate. When she was close enough, he reached out, crushed her to him, one hand splayed across her back, the other tangled in her long chestnut hair. She wrapped her arms around him, holding on with everything she had. He breathed in the scent of her, buried his lips against her neck, his breath hot against her skin.

She realized she was shaking, with fear or relief, she wasn't sure. The emotions she'd been holding back came rushing forward, and in the safety of his embrace, she finally allowed her to tears fall.


	6. Reunion

_Thank you so much to everyone for your kind reviews. It's helping to keep me motivated. I'm having a great time writing this story, so I'm glad you are all enjoying it. Hope you like this chapter just as much as the rest! _

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just trying to focus my anger on creating a complete ending for our beloved characters.**

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**Chapter Six – Reunion**

He'd deliberately held back, letting Bug, Nigel and Kate have their reunion with their co-workers. He'd needed a minute to reflect on everything that had happened and prepare himself to see her for the first time since his life had changed forever. What he wasn't prepared for, though, was how exhausted she looked. He knew Dr. Macy's injuries and surgery would have taken their toll on her, but by the looks of her, he knew Dr. Macy wasn't doing as well as they were hoping. Her face was pale and her cheeks were gaunt. A light bruise ringed the abrasion on her forehead that she'd allowed a nurse to cleanse and bandage.

She didn't see him at first, too busy hugging Nigel and Kate and welcoming them home. She turned slightly; caught sight of him. For a moment she stood, rooted to the floor. Then she stepped forward, making her way toward him, her steps slow, deliberate. He reached out, crushed her to him; angled one arm across her back, fisted the other hand in her long chestnut hair. She wrapped her arms around him, holding on with everything she had. He breathed in the scent of her, buried his lips against her neck, her skin soft against his mouth.

She was shaking, with fear or relief, he wasn't sure. It took him a moment to realize her emotions had caught up with her and she was sobbing softly in his embrace. He quietly held her, letting her cry.

When her sobs calmed, he drew back gently, tenderly wiping tears from her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. He laid a gentle kiss on her forehead, next to the bandage, being cautious of her bruise.

"Hey." He smiled gently at her.

"Hey yourself." She drew a shaky breath.

"That was quite the homecoming." He teased.

"Shut up, Farm Boy." She snuggled into his chest, content to be in his arms, feeling safe for the first time in days.

He held her that way for a long moment, knowing they'd drawn the attention of their friends. He knew they'd both be getting the third degree later on, but for the time being he was enjoying ignoring their blatant looks of curiosity. He wondered idly who the winner of the office pool was. He hoped it was Lily or Bug; they'd probably need some extra cash for a wedding before too long.

He waited until he was sure she was steady again, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently on the lips. "How is he?"

Jordan sighed, reality seeping into her body once again. She took his hand wordlessly, led him back to the waiting area where the others were anxiously awaiting news of Garret's situation.

She faced her friends, looking each one in the eye as she spoke. "His broken rib lacerated his spleen, just like he thought it did. It was a clean break, no fragments. They repaired the damage to the spleen, but he'd all ready lost a lot of blood. He had to have several transfusions in the O.R." She looked at Woody, then Bug who was snuggling Madeline close to his heart. "He crashed as soon as they brought him into the E.R. If you guys hadn't done what you did. . ." She let her voice trail off while she choked back more tears. She felt Woody squeeze her hand. "He's in a coma. They won't know about brain damage until he wakes up. He made it through last night with no problems, and if he keeps progressing, they're going to start running tests tomorrow to see if they can determine the cause of the coma."

She watched her friends' faces, saw the grief flicker across them one by one. It wasn't the news they were expecting or hoping to hear, she knew, and the guilt she'd been holding at bay since she'd discovered Garret's injury resurfaced.

"Can we see him?" Nigel's broken voice cut through the silence.

Jordan nodded. "One at a time. Ask the nurses about time limits. His room's around the corner, first door on your right."

Woody waited until they'd filed down the hall and he and Jordan were alone. "I need to go talk to my captain, let him know I'm back. Then I'm going to take you home, Jordan. You can grab a shower, change your clothes. Maybe catch a nap." He saw her hesitation, directed his gaze to their friends. "They'll stay until you get back."

She nodded. "I know." She looked at him harshly, as if something had just occurred to her. "Do I smell that bad?"

He laughed. "No, but you look like crap. And when was the last time you ate? Real food."

"Actually, the nurse brought me a plate of bacon, eggs and toast this morning. It wasn't half bad for hospital food." She caught his gaze, saw his raised eyebrow. "I could use a cup of decent coffee, though."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, helped her stand up. "All right. Coffee first, from your favourite café. Then the precinct since we'll be right around the corner. Then back to your place. Okay?"

She leaned her head on his shoulder, enjoying being taken care of for a moment. "Okay."

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They stayed at the café a while, enjoying two cups of coffee and savouring the freedom of being alive.

He held her hand as they walked the short distance from the café to the precinct. She held his as they stood on the precinct steps. She watched the emotions flicker across his face, felt him take a breath before the entered into what they knew would be chaos.

She hung back, letting his fellow officers greet him with hugs and slaps on the back. She let out a shriek as Matt Seely grabbed her in a bear hug, whirled her around in a circle. She laughed at the enthusiasm, her first real tension release since she'd found out Kate was leading the d-mort.

And she stood back as Captain James congratulated Woody on making it home. Then he proceeded to tell them how the case had advanced while they'd been on the mountain.

Apparently, Homeland Security had gotten wind of the d-mort and it raised red flags within the organization. Something similar had happened off the coast of Japan a few months back when threats of blowing up a nuclear plant had been leaked to the Japanese authorities.

This time, Homeland Security had called in the FBI, who in turn, brought in their own forensic specialists to go over the two bodies that had been brought into the morgue before Kate and her team had left Boston. The FBI forensics team recognized a mark when they saw one; they concluded the gunshot wound on the decedent's head wasn't really a gunshot wound. Although they didn't have all the pieces without the rest of the victims, they determined there was enough evidence to go ahead with an investigation into the ship's role in a possible terrorist attack.

"So, that's where I need you two," the Captain concluded. "The bodies are being pulled off the mountain as we speak, along with any paperwork you may not have been able to gather. I need every piece of paper, every theory, every shred of evidence you've gathered handed over to the FBI." He held up a hand to silence the protests. "I know they're not the easiest people to work with, but I gave the agent in charge a run down of the events of the last 72 hours, and he's agreed to do what he can to include you both in the investigation. In short, I made him promise to work _with_ you, not _against_ you. Any questions?" Woody and Jordan shook their heads, too tired to argue right then. "Good. The sooner you can get started and meet with the agent in charge, the better off we'll be. If there is still a looming threat, we need to get it dealt with, _now_."

Woody and Jordan turned to go, stopped when Captain James spoke again. "Dr. Cavanaugh." Jordan looked at him, waiting. "I heard about Dr. Macy. Please accept my department's condolences, and if there is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask. Garret's a good man; a strong man. If anyone can make it through this, it's him." Jordan gave him a small smile of thanks then turned and left the office.

The walked down the hall in silence for a moment. "I'm sorry." Woody finally said.

Jordan looked at him, surprised. "What for? You couldn't have known stopping here to check in would result in us getting forced back to work almost immediately."

"I know, Jordan. I just wish you could have a few more days, you know. To be with Dr. Macy; talk to his doctors, get a better idea of his prognosis."

"It'll do me good to get back to work. Have something to do, you know? We'll work out a rotation so one of us is always there with Garret. I won't let him be alone." She smiled sadly at him. "We'll figure it out."

"What's this I hear? Is Jordan Cavanaugh actually putting a positive spin on a situation?"

"Yeah, well. Don't get used to it. Right now the only positive thing I can really focus on is a nice, long, hot shower." She closed her eyes, imagining the luxury. "And maybe a nice glass of wine -"

"You'll have to postpone your plans for the moment. I need to speak with both of you immediately."

Jordan's eyes flew open as she spun around. "What the hell are you doing here?"

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Kate was waiting for Nigel in the hallway when he emerged from Garret's hospital room. They didn't speak as they made their way down the hall to the waiting area. She watched him try to settle comfortably into a chair, but could tell by the grimaces on his face that his arm was hurting him.

"Why don't you go home, Nigel? Get cleaned up, have a nap."

He shook his head. "Lily and Bug all ready left, and I don't know when Jordan's planning on coming back. She and Woodrow could be a while," he grinned wickedly at her.

She rolled her eyes. "I'll stay here; wait for news on Dr. Macy. I'll call you if anything changes." He knew that tone of voice. It meant 'don't argue with me and go do what you're told.' For once, he actually agreed with her, although he was never going to admit that.

He sighed, loudly. "All right, luv, if you insist." He got up from the chair, looked at Kate. "Can I bring anything back for you? Something to eat? A book to read? Coffee?"

She looked surprised. "No, but you can take this key to my house and stop by to feed Binky. He'll want something to eat. My landlord takes care of him when he sees I'm not there, but if you wouldn't mind . . ." She laughed at the horrified look on Nigel's face. "Oh, for crying out loud, Nigel. He's not an attack dog." His face relaxed and he turned to go. "Just don't let him smell your blood!" She called after him, grinning as he all but ran down the hall to get away.

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Jordan looked with shock at the man standing in front of her.

"You look like hell, Cavanaugh," he said.

"I'd like to see you keep the wrinkles out of your suit while being stranded on a mountain with dead bodies!" She shot back.

He raised one eyebrow at her. "Well, I've seen you look worse."

She cocked her head at him. "I thought you said the next time you came to town it would be for a social call."

"I said _if_ I was in town again, I'd look you up. I'm looking you up." He made no attempt to hide the way his eyes traveled up and down the length of her body.

Woody didn't miss obvious flirtation either, and stepped quickly in front of Jordan. "Who are you?"

Jordan grinned. "Detective Woody Hoyt, meet Agent Drew Haley, FBI."

Woody looked sharply at her.

"We worked a case together a few years back, before you came to Boston. He's a profiler." Her honey eyes held Haley's gaze as she spoke.

"What the hell is a profiler needed for on a terrorist case?" Woody demanded.

"Is he always this cranky?" Haley flicked his eyes in Woody's direction.

"Good to see you developed a sense of humour. Finally." Jordan chided Haley, while carefully sidestepping his question about Woody. She recognized the first signs of Woody's jealousy and decided they didn't need any more tension to deal with. "But really, why _are_ you here? To the best of my knowledge this isn't some crazy psycho running around for you to figure out, so what's up, Haley?"

He gave Jordan a pointed look then glanced at Woody. "Is there someplace we can talk in private?"

"My office," Woody said shortly, as he led them down the hall.

Once they were seated, Haley began. "You know about the heroics of the ship's first mate and navigator. You know about the Japanese nuclear threat a few months ago." He waited until they both nodded their agreement. "What we don't know, is if the two incidents are connected. If they are, we have to determine, from the bodies and evidence you collected," he glanced at Jordan, "if there are more potential threats out there."

"And you're here, why?" Woody fired at him.

Haley ignored him and directed his answer at Jordan. "I'm here to go over the evidence with you. I need your help to determine which one of the four terrorists on that ship was likely the guy in charge. Once that's done, I can work up a profile to figure out if he was likely to act alone, or as a puppet to a larger organization."

"And then you base the ensuing investigation on that theory." Jordan nodded her understanding. "So, when do we start?"

Haley looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. "I know you haven't really had a chance to come to terms with your ordeal, but I need you to get started on this asap. The sooner we have the profile information, the sooner we can get to work on diffusing other threats, if need be."

"Wait a minute!" Woody interjected. "She's just come off a mountain plane crash, her boss is in critical condition, she's had no shower, no decent food, and you just expect her to jump right in because you said so? No. You give her till tomorrow morning to get her personal stuff straightened out. . ." 

"Woody! It's okay. I can start now. I kind of need something to keep me busy, anyway. I only have one request." She looked Haley in the eyes.

"Anything." He held her gaze as she spoke.

"You make sure one of my team is able to be at the hospital with Garret at all times. I won't let him lie there by himself while the rest of us run around chasing would-be terrorists. We take shifts if we have to, but he is never to be left alone."

"Okay." He nodded, still not breaking eye contact with her. "I can work with that." He got up to leave.

"Oh, and one more thing: I need a cell phone."

"What?"

"I need a cell phone. Mine's stranded on the mountain. I need a new one."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Look, if you want me to be able to focus on this, I need a way for my team to get in touch with me about Garret, new evidence, whatever. I need a new phone."

"Fine." He took a wad of bills from his wallet. "Here. You've got an hour. I'll meet you at the morgue."

"Thanks." She grinned at him, swiped the money from his hand. "I'll see you there." She watched him turn toward the door.

"Oh, and Jordan? Try and stay out of trouble."

"Hey, I'm not making any promises!" She laughed as she watched him shake his head and make his way out of Woody's office.

Woody stood silently as he watched Jordan watch Haley leave the room. There was more to their past than what she'd told him, he was sure of it. People who had just 'worked a case together' six years ago, didn't have the kind of connection he'd just witnessed. And he hated the ball of jealously that sat in his gut because of it. He sighed. So much for talking things through with her.

She heard his sigh, glanced over at him. "What's up Woods?"

"Nothing." He figured there was no point in getting into it now. "Can I take you home now? You can grab that shower you were talking about."

She shook her head, closed her eyes in frustration. "I don't have time. I've got to get a new phone, then get over to the hospital, brief Nigel and Kate and try and again to track down Maggie and Abby. I'm going to need their help now, to sit with Garret while we get this case wrapped up. I won't let him be alone, Woody. I can't. I promised him."

"I know." He stepped forward, put his hands on her shoulders, "It'll be okay, Jordan. He'll be okay."

She wrenched away from him, blinking back tears. "Why does everyone keep saying that? If he was going to be okay, he wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed, in a coma, with tubes and monitors keeping him alive!"

"Jordan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean -"

"I've gotta go. I don't want to keep Haley waiting." She turned her back, left the office and all but ran down the hall to the precinct doors, leaving him wondering what on earth he'd done wrong this time.

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_Thanks for reading! Please remember to review! _


	7. Heartache

_Thank you so much to everyone for your kind reviews. It's helping to keep me motivated. I'm having a great time writing this story, so I'm glad you are all enjoying it. _

_P.S. - Please don't be mad at me! (you'll see)_

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just trying to focus my anger on creating a complete ending for our beloved characters.**

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**Chapter Seven – Heartache**

She could feel the burn in her calves as she climbed the stairs to Garret's eighth floor hospital room. She needed the time to think, to get her emotions in check before facing the reality of Garret's situation again.

Seeing Drew Haley again had left her more shaken than she cared to admit. She hated that he was still able to make her feel so off-balance after so many years. She hated that he could make her feel that way when she was in love with someone else.

She hated that she'd freaked on the someone else she was in love with.

She hated that she was doing it again. Backing off, being paranoid; reacting to her fears.

She knew Woody tried to understand her reactions most of the time, but she wasn't so sure he'd be willing to put up with them now that he knew how she felt.

Then again, he hadn't said he loved her too, so maybe she had a reason to be freaking out.

She stopped on the sixth floor landing, leaned her hands on her knees to catch her breath. _You told him you weren't looking for anything in return. What did you expect him to do?_ She reminded herself of his reaction on the mountain when she'd told him, and his behaviour that morning when he'd arrived at the hospital. That had to mean something, right?

She shook her head in frustration, glanced at her watch and noted she was down to a half hour before she had to meet Haley. She ignored the fire in her legs, pushed herself up, and jogged up the last two flights of stairs.

She pushed open the door to the eighth floor, Critical Care Unit, stopped by the nurses' desk for an update on Garret and proceeded down the hall to his room.

She spent a moment in silence, studying him, looking for any flickers of change.

There were none.

She stepped forward, squeezed his hand; laid a kiss on his forehead. "Hang in there, Garret." She blinked back the tears in her eyes then left his room in search of Nigel.

"Kate, hi. Uh, where's Nige?"

"I sent him home."

"Oh, okay, well, I'm gonna need him at the morgue." She quickly filled Kate in on what Captain James and Haley had told her and Woody. "I need all hands on deck for this one. We need to work fast." 

"You're kidding me, right? The FBI?"

Jordan shrugged. "Look, Kate, I know Garret left you in charge of the d-mort but . . . I know the FBI guy in charge and he's asked me to head the investigation. I don't want this to –"

"Jordan, as far as I'm concerned, the d-mort is over. I've done my job. If the feds want you on this one, you can have it."

Jordan rolled her eyes. "Fine. Agent Haley has agreed to my request to keep one of our team here at the hospital at all times. We'll rotate whenever we can. If you wouldn't mind staying to do the first shift . . ."

"I'll stay." Jordan turned to find Renee Walcott standing behind her. Her suit was rumpled, and her eyes were red rimmed, as if she'd been crying.

"Renee. You got my message."

"How is he?"

Jordan looked at her with sympathy; she'd never believed Renee's feelings for Garret had abated. Now it looked as though her hunch had been right. She gave Renee a quick run-down of Garret's injuries and current condition.

Renee nodded. "I've been in meetings with the FBI and Homeland Security most of last night and this morning. I know what they need you to do. Get your team together and bring these bastards down. I'll stay with Garret."

Jordan exchanged glances with Kate, shoved a piece of paper into Renee's hands. "This is my new cell number. Call me if anything changes, or if you have any questions." She gave Renee his room number and directions. "Go see him, Renee. I think he'd want you to."

She looked at Kate. "Let's go."

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Bug had managed to settle Madeline into a nap just before he'd settled in for his own nap on the couch. He'd wanted to talk to Lily first, make sure she was okay, but as he watched his daughter sleep, the urge to close his eyes overwhelmed him.

Lily found him there, sound asleep, moments later. She stood for a moment watching the man she loved snore quietly while her daughter napped on his chest.

Oh, how she'd missed him. When she put aside the worry and the stress and the wondering, she realized she'd truly missed him.

She'd missed moments like these, when he seemed to settle Madeline with such ease. She'd missed his reassurance and the internal strength he didn't know he had. She'd missed his arms around her, holding her snuggly to him in the dead of night. She'd missed his whispered declarations of love, moments before they fell asleep.

She didn't want to miss anymore.

She leaned down and gently lifted Madeline from his chest and laid her in her crib.

She sat down on the floor beside him; kissed his lips gently to wake him and smiled into his dark eyes when he awoke.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking how much I missed you. How much I missed having you here with me. I don't want to miss anymore, Bug."

He sat up slowly as he listened to her words.

"I want to marry you, Bug. I want to wake up every morning and see your face. I want to fall asleep every night with your arms around me. I want to raise a family with you. I want to look into your eyes everyday and see my future, our future. I want to be your wife."

She looked away shyly, twisting her necklace in her fingers. She felt him scoot to the edge of the couch and tilt her chin up with his finger so she could meet his gaze.

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes, I'll marry you. You did just propose, right? Because if you want me to do it I –"

She silenced him with a firm kiss. "Okay."

"What?"

"Okay, ask me to marry you." She laughed at his relieved expression.

"Just a minute." He got up and ran for the bedroom; came back a minute later. "Can you stand up, please?"

She looked at him with questions in her eyes, but did as he asked.

He took her hands in his, looked into her eyes. "I was going to take you out to dinner tomorrow and do this, but I think now is a good time." He took a deep breath. "Lily Lebowski, I have loved you since the moment I met you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Madeline." He paused as tears came to her eyes then kneeled down in front of her. "I love you with all my heart and soul, Lily. Will you marry me?"

Her tears were flowing freely now as she watched him produce a brilliant marquis diamond on a gold band, surrounded by blue sapphires and smaller diamonds. "I thought the sapphires matched your eyes."

Unable to contain herself any longer, she sank to the floor with him, wrapped her arms around him. "Yes, Bug, I'll marry you. I'll be your wife. And I love you, too."

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"You're late."

"Sue me." She shot back as she pulled on her gloves and prepared to do trace on the first body.

"Nice to see you're still as mouthy as ever."

"Nice to see you're still as anal as ever."

He actually smiled a little at that one.

She caught his grin from the corner of one eye. "What are you laughing at?"

"You. And how you still use sarcasm and your work to cover your real feelings."

"Haven't you got phone calls to make or jurisdictions to over rule?" She was letting him get to her again. She _hated_ that.

He watched her closely, knowing he was treading on dangerous ground. He wisely decided not to push his luck. "I don't want to read a report full of medical jargon that I need an interpreter for, Jordan. I want to hear your first impressions. I want to hear your opinions. That's why I asked for you." His eyes locked on hers as he spoke, leaving her at a loss for words.

The doors to trace flew open, startling them both, and breaking the tension in the room. "Are you two finished playing whatever sick little game this is? Because I, for one, would like to go home tonight and actually have a decent sleep in my own bed." She snapped on a pair of gloves, slipped on eye protection.

Haley glanced at Kate, then at Jordan, eyebrows raised.

"Dr. Kate Switzer, meet Agent Drew Haley, FBI."

Kate barely glanced in Haley's direction, but Haley had taken a keen interest in her comments and mannerisms. Jordan barely stifled a laugh, knowing full well that Kate had no idea what Haley's job description really entailed. This could be an interesting night.

"If you're finished analyzing me, Agent Haley, can we?" Kate gestured to the bodies lined up in front of them.

Jordan watched as Haley appraised Kate for a minute longer then switched his attention back to her. She caught his gaze, paused a moment. "Okay, then. Let's get started."

They worked on the bodies of the suspected terrorists for almost eight hours, pulling fibers, traces of chemicals, DNA, whatever they could get that might tell them who the men were and where they came from.

Nigel had come in just after 3:30 stating he couldn't sleep. Like Jordan, he immersed himself in his work to keep his mind off Dr. Macy. He started running the fingerprints they'd lifted in the make-shift trace room on the plane. He prepared DNA samples and test tubes for tox screens. Just after 10pm he noticed Jordan blinking her eyes and rubbing her temples. He knew her well enough to know when she'd had enough, even if she didn't realize it. Pulling off his gloves with flair, he announced he was calling it a night.

"We've done everything we can today, Luv. Now we wait on tox screens and DNA results which won't be ready until at least tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow morning we can start the autopsies, see what else the bodies tell us." He looked at her imploringly, silently begging her to go home and get some rest.

Kate had left about an hour before, having finished her work on the two bodies she'd been working on. Jordan figured Nigel was right; they'd done all they could for now. She nodded, looking at Haley as she did. "We'll meet you back here at 7am tomorrow," she said to him.

He pushed himself away from the wall he'd been holding up for the last few hours. "I'll see you then." He turned to go then stopped. "Can I give you a ride home?" He asked Jordan.

She tried her best to look nonchalant, even though she knew she'd be getting the third degree from Nigel in the morning. "Sure. That would be great. I'll go get my stuff from my office." She all but ran to her office willing her heart to stop fluttering in her chest.

"You're being ridiculous, Cavanaugh," she muttered to herself as she hurried down the hall. "The lack of sleep must be taking its toll, impairing your judgment –"

"Talking to yourself again?" She let out a yelp at the sound of Woody's voice. She spun around to find him lying on his back on her couch, ankles crossed, hands linked behind his neck.

"Woody! You scared me. What are you doing here? It's past 10 o'clock. I thought you'd have gone home hours ago."

"I did. Grabbed a shower, something to eat. Tried to catch some shut-eye. When that didn't work I figured I might as well be productive, so I went back to the office to fill out the first of the many, many incident reports I'll be filling out over the next several days. When I couldn't see straight any longer I decided I'd come here, see how you were doing with the bodies." _And corner you into talking to me_, he thought to himself.

She looked at him with raised eyebrows as he sat up on the couch.

His dimples flashed at her. "And I figured you could use a ride home."

"Uh, I could, but I all ready told –" 

"Are you ready to go?" Haley stood in the doorway of her office, intently watching the exchange between Jordan and Woody. Figuring people out was what he did. It didn't take an idiot to figure out these two had something going on. Which made the signals he'd been getting from Jordan for the last few hours that much more intriguing.

"I ah. . . I'm sorry, Haley. Woody's been waiting here for me, to take me home. I didn't know he was here –" 

"As long as I know you will get home safe. See you in the morning, Jordan." He nodded at Woody before walking toward the elevators, leaving Jordan staring, confused, after him.

"What just happened here?" Woody asked her, not at all liking the expression on her face and the way her eyes were following Haley. He wasn't liking the way that made him feel, either, and unfortunately he couldn't keep that out of his voice.

She looked sharply at him. "He offered me a ride home. I said yes before I knew you were here." She wasn't sure what to make of his body language and the way he was staring daggers at Haley's back. She sighed. "Can we go now?"

He didn't speak another word until they were in his car on the way to her apartment. "I don't like that guy."

"You're a cop. You're not supposed to like the FBI."

"There's something about him, though. Like I can't totally trust him."

"Trust me, Woody, you can trust Haley. He's a good guy, really. He's just doing his job. And part of his job is to be evasive."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't seem to be evasive with you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I don't like the looks he's giving you. The way he was looking at you at the precinct, wanting to drive you home tonight. I mean, come on, Jordan! The guy's obviously got a hard-on for you!"

"What!"

"Jordan, seriously. You really think he came all this way and asked for you specifically just so he can solve his case? You really believe it has nothing to do with how good looking you are or –"

"I told you, we worked a case together before. He knows me and the morgue staff. He knows we'll stop at nothing to solve a case, and that's how he works, too." She kept her voice low, deliberately warning him, a sign that was not missed by him. He stayed silent until they reached her building.

She got out of the car, not waiting to see if he would follow. She knew he would.

She was halfway across the parking lot before he managed to scramble out of the car and go after her.

"Jordan. Jordan!" He finally caught up with her at the elevator. "Look, I just think this guy isn't all that he seems. He makes my radar go up, okay?"

She gave him the silent treatment until they reached her apartment door. "Thank you for the ride home." She put her key in the lock, shouldered her way through her doorway.

"Jordan, please. I didn't mean –"

She whirled on him, exhaustion, stress and fear finally taking its toll. "I don't need you pulling the jealous 'she's my territory' crap, Woody. I have enough to deal with without worrying about your hurt feelings!"

"Jordan!" He grabbed her by the shoulders, forced her to look at him. "What the hell happened? Thirty six hours ago, you told me you wanted to be with me, and now you're putting the moves on some crack-pot FBI agent and you just expect me to stand back and let it happen?" 

"No, Woody. I expect you to stand back and let me do my job. And right now, that job includes working with Agent Haley." Fire flashed in her eyes as she continued, "And I wasn't putting 'the moves' on him; he's my friend, Woody, and we have a past. So whether you like it or not, so I suggest you find a way to deal with it!"

"I don't want to do this, Jordan; I can't do this." Woody let go of her shoulder, shook his head slowly. "I spent twenty four hours without you, not knowing how you were, not being able to talk to you. Sitting in that hotel room, waiting, gave me a lot of time to think, Jordan, about you, about us, about what you said . . . he trailed off at her shocked and confused look. "What?"

"Woody, where were you last night?"

He smiled in a feeble attempt to lighten her mood. "You're not going to believe this, but it was a cute little place called Littleton, New Hampshire. Imagine getting snowed in for a second time in a place called –"

"You got off the mountain yesterday? In the second chopper? In the storm?"

"Yeah, the pilot was able to navigate the storm, but the chopper lost communication so we had to make an emergency landing . . . didn't someone from the rescue team give you the message?" He watched her shaking her head and had the sinking feeling no one had told Jordan and Lily of their friends' rescue.

"I spent over twenty four hours worrying about you, wondering where you were, if you'd gotten off that damned mountain! I paced the hallways of the hospital not knowing if you were alive or dead! No one could get a hold of the pilot. No one knew where your chopper was, Woody. It just disappeared with you on it! Now you're telling me. . ."

"Jordan, please calm down."

". . . that you were safe all along and no one bothered to phone the hospital? Don't stand there and tell me to calm down! Just . . . don't. Don't stand there at all."

She closed her eyes, partly to block the tears she knew were threatening, and partly to block the sight of the shocked and hurt look he was giving her.

"I need a shower." She turned on her heel, knowing she should tell him to stay, but she wasn't able to make her mouth form the words. She went to the bathroom, shut the door and turned on the water.

As she was stepping out of her clothes, she heard the front door slam behind him.

Using the wall for support, she sank to the floor, buried her face in her hands and let the tears fall.

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He knew he shouldn't have left.

He knew if he wanted any chance of a relationship with her, he needed to talk to her.

And he would.

Right after he took a long walk to calm down.

He hadn't walked long when he found himself at the boardwalk where they used to run together. She loved the boardwalk, the view of the harbour, the smell of the salty sea air. She said there was something fresh and rejuvenating about being there. He agreed with her. And tonight he needed all the rejuvenation he could get.

He leaned his forearms on the railing, looked out over the water. The near-full moon left a silvery path on the surface of the sea. When he tipped his head back, he could make out several constellations in the inky sky overhead.

Try as he might, he couldn't clear his mind of his jealous feelings. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jordan, he did. What, or rather who, he didn't trust was the FBI agent, Haley. The problem was that he didn't know exactly _why_ he didn't trust him. Jordan obviously felt the guy was on the up-and-up and usually her instinct was enough to make Woody relent. So what was it about this guy that kept him so on edge?

"Nice night for stargazing."

The sneaking up on people could be it.

"Nice view from here."

Woody grunted, still too breathless to speak. He was a cop, for crying out loud. He never let his guard down long enough to allow someone to sneak up on him.

"Didn't mean to startle you."

_The hell you didn't! _He held his tongue. "What are you doing here, Haley?"

"Chronic insomniac. Nice twenty four hour coffee shop around the corner. Found it last time I was in Boston. It's nice to see some things haven't changed."

Woody looked at him from the corner of his eye, said nothing.

Haley's voice was so low Woody almost didn't catch his words. "I admire her work, respect it. That's why I asked for her."

Woody rolled his eyes, looked out over the harbour. He wasn't in the mood for riddles.

"I expected more from her than you, Hoyt."

Woody gave him points for knowing how to push buttons. "You don't know a damned thing about her."

"I know she's vulnerable, but will never admit it. I know she seeks the good in everyone; blames herself when she's let down. She feels responsible for things beyond her control. She cares for you and it scares the hell out of her. How am I doing so far?"

"What do you want Haley?"

"It's what I don't want: Jordan to get hurt."

"Who says she will?"

Haley chuckled. "You're a piece of work, Hoyt. You've been on edge since the second I walked into the 19th Precinct." He saw Hoyt flinch; knew he'd hit a nerve. "We worked a case together; an important one, a dangerous one. One that left lasting impressions on her and shook her so much she still hasn't told you about it."

"How do you know she hasn't told me about it?" Woody demanded. He was tired. Tired of this case, tired of worrying about Jordan and tired of being psycho-analyzed by this freak.

"If she had, you'd understand our relationship. And we wouldn't be having this conversation." Haley paused, let that sink in then continued. "You have something special, Hoyt. Don't screw it up."

He never heard the agent walk away, but knew when he was alone. He contemplated what Haley had said; decided although it was subtle, the threat was still there. He needed to get back to Jordan's, needed to talk to her about this infamous case that connected her and Haley at such a deep level.

He all but ran back to her building. He passed on the elevator, took the stairs two at a time to the third floor. But his pounding on her door only succeeded in waking the neighbour, who was not happy with the noise.

"Hey! Keep it down or I'll call the cops, you idiot!" Woody turned to find Jordan's neighbour standing in the hallway. The guy looked like he'd been on a bender for the better part of the week.

Woody flashed his badge at him. "Where is she?"

"How the hell should I know? Chick isn't home for days then outta the blue, doors start slammin' and she goes high tailin' outta here 'bout an hour ago. Chick's crazy, you ask me. Cuts up dead people for a livin'. Creepy."

Woody swore under his breath and pulled his contact card from his wallet. "You see her, you call me, understand? I don't care what time it is."

"Yeah, okay. She in some kinda trouble or somethin'? You gonna arrest her? 'Cause I'd love to get into a bigger place and the wait list for this building is years long."

Woody shook his head in frustration, walked away. "Just call me!" He yelled over his shoulder as he waited for the elevator. He tried her cell phone, got her voice mail. Where ever she was, she didn't want to be found. And when Jordan didn't want to be found, the best thing to do was to go home and try to get some sleep.

He scanned the parking lot one more time before he got into his car. _Where the hell are you, Jordan?_

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She'd been sitting in the hallway outside his apartment door for close to an hour.

After she'd managed to get her tears under control, she'd taken a long, hot shower. She imagined she was washing away all the dirt and grime from the crash site and every horrible word she and Woody had said to each other that night.

She didn't get it. She just didn't get how he could kiss her senseless at her declaration of love and then turn into the green-eyed monster hurling accusations hours later. If she really let herself consider it, she supposed his behaviour could be attributed to his feelings for her, which could run deeper than she thought. But she was too afraid to consider the fact that Woody may love her. She was too afraid to be wrong.

His car wasn't in the lot when she'd arrived, so she knew he wasn't home. She couldn't phone his office; her new cell was at home on the charger and she hadn't thought to grab it before she ran out the door of her apartment. So, with nothing to do, she'd settled in to wait.

Now, it was almost an hour later and close to midnight. She was fighting to keep her eyes open and knew if she waited any longer, she wouldn't make it home safely. With her last bit of energy, she pushed herself to her feet and made her way to the elevator. She was too tired even to walk down the stairs.

As she made her way to her car, only one thought flickered through her mind. _Where the hell are you, Woody?_


	8. Answers

_Thank you so much to everyone for your kind reviews. It's helping to keep me motivated. This chapter focuses on the case and it wasn't supposed to be so detailed. But the idea caught hold and kind of took on a life of its own, and well – let me know what you think!_

_**This chapter is dedicated to a few wonderful friends from the CJ Coffeeroom: wjobsessed, mecedeme, Miss Katie, lbcjfan and CJobsessed. Thank you for the extra kick of encouragement and for coming along for the ride! And thanks to wjobsessed for spreading the word – you rock, girlfriend!**_

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just trying to focus my frustrations by creating a complete ending for our beloved characters.**

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**Chapter Eight – Answers**

She awoke to the sound of her alarm going off at 5:58 am. She smacked the snooze button, rolled over to catch another seven minutes of peace.

Three minutes later, her cell phone rang.

She groaned and pulled the pillow over her head to stop the sound from invading her fuzzy brain. The ringing stopped. She had no sooner breathed a sigh of relief and removed the pillow when it started again. Suddenly remembering where she was and what had happened, she threw the pillow across the room and flicked open her cell.

"Cavanaugh," she mumbled. Her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

"Good morning, sunshine!"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Trust me luv, you won't care when you hear the news I've got for you."

That had her sitting bolt upright in bed. "Spill it Nige." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and padded barefoot to the kitchen.

"I've been working the prints we lifted off the four bodies unaccounted for on the ship. It seems our engineer, Zaki Hamberi, had a couple of brothers, Hatim and Fakhir."

"And?"

"Well, I did some digging, and both were supposed to be remanded to a Japanese prison on suspicion of being involved in the Japanese nuclear threat a few months back. Only it seems they escaped a little over two weeks ago."

Jordan just about choked on the milk she was drinking straight from the carton.

"Prison officials checked into it when U.S. Homeland Security contacted them. The two imposters sitting in prison, not only went unnoticed for two weeks, but are also thought to have ties to whatever organization is behind this. They've admitted to knowing about the nuclear threat, but deny being involved in the actual operation."

Jordan wiped her mouth; put the milk back in the fridge. "Okay, so the first mission fails and they get caught. They find a couple of lackeys to impersonate them then worm their way onto their brother's ship and head to Boston. Only they get caught again, this time by their brother's fellow crew men. And it costs them their lives."

"Which raises more than a few red flags. Now they've got the FBI and U.S. Homeland Security looking into their every move and trying to figure out what's what. I'd bet my next month's paycheck those two prison impersonators are dead before the week is done."

"Yeah, and they're probably expecting it. So the question now is who's going to be looking for revenge and what's their next move?"

"My thoughts exactly. You want to call your friend, Agent Haley, or should I?"

"You call. I'll meet you both at the morgue in a half hour."

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She'd showered, dressed and brushed her hair and teeth in under ten minutes. She'd phoned the hospital, realizing guiltily that she didn't even know who was with Garret and that she didn't have time to stop and find out. She promised herself she'd stop as soon as she and Nigel had Haley briefed.

She spoke to Judy, the night nurse who'd shoved breakfast at her the morning before.

"He's holding his own, Jordan. He's not visibly improving, but he's not getting worse. His vitals are still a bit on the weak side. We're a little concerned about a slightly elevated temperature, but he's not showing any other signs of infection, so we're going to continue to monitor him hourly. The doctor is hoping to start running a few tests today to see if he can determine the cause of the coma. I'll let you know if anything changes."

She recited her new cell number to Judy, and double checked that the nurse had the numbers for the morgue and her apartment as well.

"I've got them all, Jordan. You need to rest, too. He's being well taken care of, and one of your friends seems to be here at all times. You just concentrate on taking care of yourself for now."

Jordan didn't dare tell Judy she was on her way to work as she wasn't entirely convinced the nurse wouldn't haul it down to the morgue and force her to go home. "Who's there with him now?"

"A brunette. On the tall side, thin. She was here last night when I got here.

Renee. Jordan breathed a sigh of relief that the D.A. was still there. "Okay, thanks Judy. I'll try and be down in the next couple of hours."

She hung up, grabbed her wallet, keys and M.E. badge and headed out the door.

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Fifteen minutes later, she was pulling into her morgue parking spot. She noticed with a wry smile that Haley's car was there and that this time he'd remembered to park somewhere other than in her spot. She also noticed that Woody's car was not there and wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed at that.

She stopped in the break room and gave a silent thanks to Nigel for remembering to make coffee. She poured herself a cup then proceeded to trace to find out what else Nigel and Haley had come up with.

The first thing she noticed when she entered is they had added more notes to the ones they'd scribbled last night on the dry erase boards. There were pictures taped beside the notes of Zaki Hamberi and two men she assumed were his brothers, Hatim and Fakhir. She wondered idly how long Nigel had been at the morgue, piecing together the puzzle, before he'd phoned her.

Nigel looked up from his computer screen when she entered. Haley glanced her way and gave a terse nod before turning his back and continuing his conversation with whoever was on the other end of his cell phone call.

She focused on Nigel. "What have we got?"

"Right now, I'm cross-referencing the Hamberi brothers' names with the BPD criminal data base. They must have had motivation to come to Boston and the best reason I can think of is someone here made them an offer they just couldn't refuse." He caught her slightly confused look and explained. "Since I talked to you earlier, we've uncovered a few more details about our doomed seamen. Haley's got friends who have managed to get the prison imposters to talk. Seems Hamberi and his brothers are part of a larger organization."

"There's a shock."

Nigel grinned at her sarcasm. "It appears as though Zaki Hamberi was the leader, at least of this operation. He didn't physically take part in the Japanese nuclear threat, but rumour has it he was the mastermind behind it."

"He was probably too busy worming his co-horts onto that ship so they could take control and pull off the Boston Operation."

Nigel nodded to Haley. "He's on the phone now with his bureau contacts to find out if the imposters have given up any names. By the look on his face, I reckon he's getting some interesting information."

He swung around as the computer beeped, signaling they'd gotten a hit on something. "Bloody hell!"

"What is it, Nige?"

Nigel tapped a few keys on the keyboard then ran a hand shakily through his hair as he looked up at Jordan. "This just got a whole lot more complicated that we thought. Look." He turned the screen so Jordan could have a look.

She quickly skimmed through the BPD information he was showing her then stared at him in disbelief. "That's impossible! It's only been two years!"

"That's what a hot-shot lawyer and unlimited finances will do for you."

"I have to phone Woody. He needs to know about this." She flipped open her cell, dialed Woody's. She growled in frustration when she got his voicemail. "Woody, it's me. I'm at the morgue. We've made a connection between the Venezia crew and the Albanian mob. You need to see this. Call me."

She closed her eyes, thinking of the night before when she couldn't find him after their argument. If Albie Samson was lose, who knew what kind of danger Woody could be in. She prayed he was okay.

"Why didn't we know about this? Why didn't Renee know about this? Samson is red-flagged all over Massachusetts. Someone screwed up."

"Or someone was paid to look the other way." Nigel was busy at the keyboard once again. "Wait a minute, this doesn't add up. He was only released two days ago. That means when the Venezia was reported adrift, he was still locked up. He couldn't possibly pull off something like that while behind bars, could he?"

She nodded; her mind racing through the facts. "Albie Samson probably has more connections than you or I can even dream of. He had to have someone on his payroll. Someone who could come and go at the prison without arousing too much suspicion."

"Someone who, by all appearances, wasn't there to visit him."

She and Nigel were both startled by the sound of Haley's voice. They'd all but forgotten he was there. Jordan looked at him waiting for the answer.

"Does the name Blackie Conroy mean anything to you?"

"He's head of the Irish Mob in Boston. Took over for Kevin Cahill a couple of years ago." She shook her head slowly. "That doesn't make sense. Blackie loves this city; grew up here. I can't see him knowingly inflicting the kind of damage a bomb and tear gas would produce."

"You know him personally?" Haley demanded.

She nodded, took a sip of her now luke-warm coffee. "He and my dad were buddies growing up. When they were in their early teens, Blackie turned to a life of crime, my dad became a cop. We've had a couple incidences in the last few years, but nothing major. Nothing like this."

"All right. We've got the names, what's the connection?"

"I think I can answer that for you." Nigel looked at Haley, flicked his eyes to his computer screen. He'd pulled up criminal history on Fakhir Hamberi.

Jordan skimmed through it, frowning. "I don't –"

"His last prison stint. Before Japan."

Understanding dawned in her eyes.

"I'm not sure if the dates match, but –"

"Would one of you please care to explain?" Haley gave her a look, clearly exasperated. This was not a man who was used to being left out of the loop.

Jordan looked at him then, and Haley didn't think he'd ever seen her so serious. "Two years ago, we came across a mass grave here in Boston. Turns out it was a mob dump site. Further investigation showed the Albanian mob was behind it. Bug was assaulted and robbed of a day's worth of evidence at the scene. We traced the assault back to one Vilson Ahmeti of the Albanian National. Woody went after him but the perp jumped off a roof to his death."

Nigel piped up. "Upon tracing him and what he was doing in Boston, we came across a local club owner, Albie Samson. You wouldn't believe the aliases this guy had and the rap sheet –"

"Focus Nige! Woody ended up taking him down. Shot him, actually. Not fatal, so he ended up in prison. He was supposed to serve a life sentence for the mob murders, but apparently got out on a technicality." She left out the part about Cal's involvement and Woody shooting Samson to save her life, knowing if Haley was aware that she was personally involved with the Albanian takedown, he'd probably pull her off the case and put her in protective custody.

"But what's the connection between Ahmeti and the Hamberi brothers?"

"Vilson Ahmeti and Fakhir Hamberi were both incarcerated at the same Yugoslavian prison at the same time. I've got the dates right here." Nigel looked at them triumphantly.

"Samson's too smart to come after us and the BPD directly, so my guess is he's devised a plan to take out his enemies all in one shot. Hence the Charlestown Bridge and the Patriot's Day parade.

"You're trying to tell me this is just a revenge hit? All this planning was revenge for Samson's prison term?"

Jordan shook her head slowly; looked Haley straight in the eye. "No. It's revenge for Ahmeti's death."

He held her gaze for a moment, clearly deciding if she knew more than she was letting on. She breathed a sigh of relief when Nigel's voice broke the tension.

"So why Patriot's Day?"

"How many law-enforcement officers do you think take part in that parade, Nigel? Not to mention the officers stationed for security, and the ones taking part in the battle re-enactments. The Albanian Mob takedown was a huge coup for Boston PD. And a huge embarrassment for the Albanian Mob."

Haley nodded in understanding. "So where does Conroy fit?"

"Prior to the mass grave, the Albanian mob had been making its presence known in the Boston mob community. They'd start by working for the existing mobs. When they had enough dirt, they'd start blackmailing the mob bosses until they relinquished their hold and turned their organization over to the Albanians. Probably Blackie, or one of his mobbies, got mixed up in the scheme and in order for him to get out Blackie would have had to strike a deal with Samson."

"And the Japanese nuclear threat?"

"My guess is it was just a decoy. Fakhir and Hatim probably planned to get captured and imprisoned, thus throwing suspicion away from them, so when the Boston operation was pulled off, no one would trace it back to them. But no one counted on the Venezia crew figuring out their plan."

"Now we just have to prove it," Nigel said quietly.

Haley flipped his cell open, barked some orders into it. He turned back a moment later, focused his attention on Jordan. "I've stationed agents here and at the hospital to stay with your boss. We've got surveillance teams at all Samson's known hot spots. I want you to phone your friends, tell them not to go anywhere without FBI protection. Is that clear?"

"Haley –"

"Like it or not, Jordan, you and your friends are involved in this. Word starts getting out that you're still working the case you all start disappearing, one by one. I am not going to let that happen."

He leaned over, grabbed his trench coat from the chair it was draped over the back of.

"Where are you going?"

"I've got to go talk to Blackie Conroy."

"I'm coming with you."

He whirled on her so fast she almost ran into him. "No! No, you're not, Jordan. Not this time."

"He's not going to talk to a fed, Haley. Let me talk to him. I know this guy! I know how he works, where he . . ."

"NO!" He clenched and unclenched his fist at his side. "No. It's too dangerous."

"Haley!"

He grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye. "The last time I let you tag along on a case, I almost lost you. I'm not going to take that chance again."

"That wasn't your fault, Haley, and you know it. You can't go blaming . . ."

"Stay here, Jordan. Please." He brushed his lips gently against her forehead, loosened his grip on her.

"Drew . . ."

"Stay put, Jordan. I mean it." He gave her one last glance as he backed out of the room then turned and strode quickly through the doorway.

It took her a moment to catch her breath from his kiss. When she did, she went flying out the door behind him. "Drew!" She turned the corner quickly, grabbing the wall with her hands to steady herself. "Damnit!" He was just about to the elevators. She ran faster. "DREW!"

She was almost to the lobby when the elevator doors closed behind him. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she shook her head in frustration as she watched the lighted numbers descend to the ground floor.

She swore loudly, turned to go back to her office, and ran smack into a solid wall of muscle.

"Going somewhere?"

She gasped as she looked up at his hardened face. "Woody!"

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_I've re-read this so many times it's becoming a blur, but if anything about the case doesn't make sense to you all, please let me know (nicely) and I can (try) and correct it in the next chapter. . . _

_And don't forget to R&R please!! Thanks for reading! cjl_


	9. Family

_Thank you so much to everyone for your kind reviews. It's helping to keep me motivated. You are all so wonderful! I'm having a great time writing this story, so I'm glad you are all enjoying it. We're nearing the end! _

_**This one's for Merryann**__ who went out of her way to let me know how much she's enjoying this and then made me blush with her compliments. Thank you._

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just trying to focus my frustration on creating a complete ending for our beloved characters.**

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**Chapter Nine – Family**

She allowed herself a moment of relief that he was okay, before grabbing him by his sleeve and pulling him into her office. She closed the door and leaned against it.

"Where the hell have you been? I was worried sick!"

"I was at the office, doing paperwork. When I got your message, I came straight down. Although I'm not sure I should have." He gave a pointed look, letting her know he'd seen her argument with Haley and he was not happy about it.

She ignored that fact for the time being.

"Albie Samson is the connection, Woody. He's out on a technicality." She watched his expression change from pissed to thoroughly pissed. "Vilson Ahmeti was in prison in Yugoslavia with one of Zaki Hamberi's brothers, Fakhir. When Ahmeti ended up dead, Samson contacted Fakhir to put together a plan of revenge against Boston authorities. But Samson went to prison before the plans could be finalized, so Fakhir took matters into his own hands.

"Only Fakhir's not from here, which means he needs an inside guy, someone who won't raise red flags." Woody said slowly.

She nodded. "Right. Enter Blackie Conroy. We think Blackie was losing his mobbies to Samson's organization. Obviously he's not happy about it, so he cuts a deal. He gets Samson the information he wants, no questions asked, and Samson gives his word he'll leave Blackie and his organization alone."

"He's in and out of the prison constantly, visiting his 'employees'. All he has to do is walk by Samson's cell, slip him the info and be on his way. No words, no glances, no suspicion. Nothing to trace it back to him."

"Virtually foolproof."

"Except no one planned on the Venezia's crew to figure everything out and let the nerve gas go onboard the ship, long before they reached the Boston Harbour."

"Exactly."

He yanked his cell phone from his pocket, flipped it open. "I'm going to get officers down here. I'll get someone to guard Garret, too –"

"It's all ready done." She looked at him sheepishly. "Haley took care of it."

He looked at her with a 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me' look. "Well, I guess I'm not needed here, then. I'll just go back to my office and continue to try and put a dent in the mountain of paperwork piled on top of it." He turned to go.

"Woody, don't. Please." He stopped, but didn't turn to face her. "There's some things I need to explain to you –" She swore as her cell phone began to vibrate across her desk. She grabbed it, intending to turn it off, but stopped when she saw the call display.

Woody turned, caught her look of fear.

"It's the hospital."

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His legs were numb.

He could still feel his toes – barely. But his legs were completely devoid of feeling.

He didn't dare move for fear of waking her. She'd finally fallen into a fitful sleep after pacing the hallways for hours. He'd convinced her to sit down simply because he was afraid she was going to fall down. She'd sat with her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes and drifted off. When he was sure she was asleep, he'd adjusted their bodies so they were both lying down, her head on his chest with her legs draped over his. Now he wished he could make his mind go to sleep as well as his legs, but his brain was working overtime, trying to figure out how to best help Jordan through this.

At her office, he watched her face turn from pink with embarrassment to deathly pale with fear when she took the call. He knew it wasn't good. She was barely able to tell him the news as she stood with her phone dangling from her hand. "He's . . . Garret's . . . I have to go," was all she managed.

He quietly grabbed her keys and wallet and when she slowly closed her phone, he wrapped an arm around her waist and led her to the elevator. He didn't ask what was wrong until she was safely buckled into the passenger seat of his car.

"Infection," she stated numbly. "His temp was elevated this morning. They didn't seem to be concerned about it, but said they'd monitor him in case." She looked at him then, and he knew she was barely containing her emotions. "I didn't stop this morning, Woody. I haven't seen him since yesterday. What if this is –"

"It's not, Jordan. They caught it early, right? They're probably all ready treating him with antibiotics. They called you because you asked them to notify you of any changes. He's made it this far, he'll be fine." He hoped he wasn't making a promise he was going to have to break.

They'd made it to the hospital in record time.

Woody watched with fascination as Jordan greeted Renee with a hug, then gripped the D.A.'s hand in hers as she spoke with Dr. Roberts. The doctor confirmed they'd started an intravenous drip with a very strong antibiotic and hinted that the infection could be the reason behind Garret's coma. He was going to run some tests, and when he knew more, he'd let Jordan know. All they could do was wait and hope Garret's fever came down before it did too much damage to his all ready fragile body.

So, with nothing left to do, she'd paced. And paced. And paced some more. She'd barely paused when their friends arrived even though she realized she hadn't called them. She figured Woody must have done it while she was speaking to the doctor. She'd soon driven Kate so crazy with her movements that Kate had hauled Nigel off his chair and stated they were going to the cafeteria for a coffee run. It was two hours before they returned.

Maggie had finally made an appearance, with Abby close behind her. According to them, they'd been in Tuscany, waiting for Garret to arrive. When he'd been two days late, they figured work had gotten in the way. When he'd been four days late, Maggie had checked her home voicemail. That was when she'd heard Jordan's message and they'd packed their bags and headed back to Boston as fast as they could. Jordan had managed to stop pacing long enough to give them a quick run down of everything that had happened, including Garret's current condition.

Now, several hours later, they were still waiting for more news, any news, on Garret's condition.

Woody looked around the waiting area at the morgue staff. It never ceased to amaze him how lucky he was to be a part of this 'family' especially considering he didn't have one of his own any more. It had crossed his mind briefly to try and get a hold of Cal and let him know of Samson's release. He'd quickly talked himself out of that plan; he didn't know what Cal was up to or who he was associating with these days. For all he knew, Samson was just sitting back and waiting for the Hoyt brothers to make contact so he could go after Cal or Woody or both of them. So he had resigned himself to waiting on Haley's discoveries and told himself he'd contact Cal when they had more information about Samson's organization and Woody felt it was safe to give his brother a heads up.

He felt Jordan twitch in her sleep and ran his hand through her hair to calm her. He wished he could do something to help her with her pain. He wished he could do everything he hadn't been able to do for her when Garret was first brought in.

He wished he didn't feel so helpless.

He'd been a part of hundreds of cases during his time in Boston, but the worst ones were those that hurt Jordan. He never felt like he knew just what to say or do to help ease her pain. The only time he'd felt like he'd helped her was at the Lucy Carver Inn when she'd asked for his opinion of her relationship with J.D. _I think you all ready know. I think we always know what we want. Not what we __**say**__ we want, but what we __**really**__ want. _He laughed now at the irony of his statement. Jordan Cavanaugh was what he really wanted; what he had always wanted. But he'd told her to get out of his life.

Now he was terrified that Drew Haley was going to walk in at any minute and take Jordan away from him.

He sighed, looking down at the woman he loved. She was lying on her left side, facing the waiting area with her right arm was draped across her midsection. Her left arm was at an angle across her chest with her hand resting on her right shoulder. He untangled his hand from her hair and gripped her left hand in his right one. Feeling the completeness of that small gesture ripple through him, he leaned his head back, closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

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Kate sipped her third cup of coffee slowly, not really enjoying the taste anymore. It wasn't so much that she needed the caffeine it was that she needed something to do with her hands. Otherwise they would give away her nervousness, and she didn't want any of the morgue staff to see how unsure she was of the outcome of Garret's situation.

She watched as Jordan snuggled into the warmth and safety of Woody's body. She watched as Jordan fell into a fitful sleep and she watched as Woody ran his fingers through her hair to calm her. He seemed to do it automatically, without hesitation, like he'd done it many times before. Kate longed to have that familiarity with someone else's body and the contentment and love that went along with it.

She glanced at Nigel, seated to her right. He was turning his empty coffee cup around and around in his good hand. She smiled a little to herself, knowing he was doing it for the same reason that she was still drinking her coffee; the only difference being that he was comfortable with the others knowing how nervous he was.

Without thinking, she reached over and gripped his wrist, startling him into stopping his movements. He jerked his head in her direction, surprise and questions in his eyes.

"I need some air. Take a walk with me." It was more of a demand than a question and she rose from her seat looking at him expectantly.

He grinned before jumping up from his chair. He tossed his coffee cup in the nearby trash can and followed her down the hall.

She seemed to wander aimlessly through the halls until they came upon another waiting area. This one was equipped with a balcony, enclosed with glass to protect people from falling over the edge.

Nigel watched her obvious discomfort with a mix of humour and fascination as she stood at the window looking out over the city. He glanced over her shoulder at the beautiful expanse of Boston. He loved the view this time of the day, when the sun began its slow descent over the horizon and the cars far below became streaks of white and red as their lights cut through the dimness of the evening. He realized with a start that they'd been at the hospital more than ten hours now, and there was still no word of Dr. M.'s condition improving. He looked at Kate's rigid posture and was almost certain she wasn't enjoying the sunset. He went to the railing, casually leaned back on it, and waited.

"I never wanted to like Boston."

Inwardly he grinned, but managed to keep a straight face.

"It was always just a job. Find out the truth about who killed Lance Cooke and go home."

"Yet, when you got asked to stay, you did. Why?"

She looked sharply at him then realized he wasn't speaking with rancor, he was just curious as to what her answer would be. "I don't know. I suppose it was because the governor asked me to, and it is career suicide to refuse a request from the governor."

He stayed silent; just raised an eyebrow at her.

"And there was something about this place, the morgue I mean, that got to me. At first I thought I could make a difference in the apparent lack of respect and obvious hierarchy confusion."

He smiled at that. She didn't have to mention Jordan's name; he of course knew she was referring to the shenanigans Garret let Jordan get away with.

"Gradually I realized it wasn't a _lack_ of respect, it was just the opposite." She paused, caught his smile from the corner of his eye. "The jury's still out on the hierarchy issue."

She sighed. "I didn't understand the 'family' . . . thing. I always functioned under the 'don't ask, don't tell, don't get involved' rule at work. No one could get hurt that way. And then Jordan got sick. I saw how much you were all affected by it. And I felt . . . I don't know . . . left out."

He turned sideways so he could face her. He wanted to hold her hand, tell her he she didn't have to feel that way anymore, but he wasn't quite sure how to approach her.

"When Dr. Macy asked me to 'baby sit' Jordan after her surgery, I should have been furious. There was a time not too long ago I would have been." She smiled at the memory of asking him to hire a nurse. "Then he said he trusted me." She looked at Nigel then, and the pain was apparent in her eyes. "No one's ever said that to me. I guess I knew they must have, because no one has ever questioned my findings. That is, until I came to Boston. Then I got questioned constantly."

"Kate," he said softly. "We don't question you because we don't trust you. We just function on a different level than everyone else. The simple truth isn't good enough for us. We question things because we're constantly driven to find more, do more, so we can give more to the families." He did take her hand then, and was pleasantly surprised when she didn't pull away. "We have Jordan to thank for that. I don't know how many families would still be searching for answers if it weren't for Jordan and her inability to let things go."

"It's nice giving closure." She said it so softly he barely heard her. "It's nice feeling like I'm making a difference. I fought for so many years to get my dad clean. I always wondered why my love wasn't enough to make him seek help. I finally had to cut ties with him or risk being sucked into his world. In the process, I cut everyone else out, too. Everyone that I was familiar with. Everyone that reminded me of him."

She took a deep breath and turned to face him, looking him straight in the eye. "I shouldn't care this much about my boss. I shouldn't care this much about anyone I work with. I shouldn't get this close." She jabbed a finger at his chest. "And you! You drive me crazy and I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to feed your kidneys to Binky." He looked scared then, and she laughed at his expression. "Be grateful I care enough _not_ to feed your kidneys to Binky!"

She reached up and brushed his cheek with her fingers and her eyes turned serious. "You make me feel like I belong somewhere again, Nigel. Thank you." She smiled a little and turned to walk away then stopped. "You still owe me a new car."

He watched her for a moment, grinning to himself. Who'd have thought a joke-cracking bloke from Britain would be the one to break through that tough exterior? He pushed himself away from the railing and prepared to follow her back to Dr. Macy's room.

It happened so fast he didn't have time to react, didn't have time to blink.

All he felt was heat.

And then a pair of beautifully soft lips was capturing his in a searing kiss.

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Woody felt like he'd just drifted off when the nurse shook him gently awake.

"The doctor will be in to speak with Dr. Cavanaugh in a few minutes," she whispered.

He nodded, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Thanks," he whispered back. He glanced around the waiting area and realized vaguely that Nigel and Kate had disappeared. Bug was stretched out on the love seat across the room from Woody, with his nose buried in a nature magazine.

He attempted to sit up, and found that he couldn't feel anything below his waist. A moment of panic threatened to overtake him before he realized it was the weight of Jordan's sleeping body that had cut off his circulation. He relaxed back into the couch and ran his fingers through her hair, enjoying the feeling of having her so close to him.

"Jordan," he whispered. "Wake up sleeping beauty." He leaned forward as best he could and laid a soft kiss on her temple. He removed his hand from her hair and ran it softly up and down her arm, stopping at her shoulder where he gently massaged her muscles. He grinned to himself when he felt her stir.

"Mmmm," she mumbled then realized where she was and pushed herself quickly to a sitting position. "Woody! I'm sorry. Why did you let me fall asleep? You're legs must killing you!" She blushed slightly at the implication of her words then yelped when he pulled her back down to his chest.

"It's nothing a back rub from my favourite M.E. won't cure," he purred in her ear. He nibbled gently on her earlobe. "Besides, it feels nice to hold you."

She lifted her head and looked directly into his eyes. He was smiling at her, but she knew his words were no joke. She smiled back and brushed a soft kiss on his lips. "I promise if we make it out of here tonight, I'll give you that back rub. It's the least I can do for letting me conk out on you." She sat up and gingerly climbed out of his lap so the circulation could return to his legs.

He grabbed her hand as she walked past him. "I didn't wake you because I was uncomfortable, Jordan. The nurse came to see me. She said Dr. Roberts will be in to talk with you in a few minutes." He watched her expression turn somber as the reality of Garret's situation caught up with her once more.

"Thanks," she said softly. She wandered over to Bug and crouched down beside him. Woody couldn't hear what she said, but gathered it had something to do with the doctor coming to see them.

She stood up after a moment and looked around. "Has anyone seen Kate & Nige?"

"They left a while ago. Probably just went for a walk." Bug swung his legs off the couch he was stretched out on. "I'll go see if I can find them. If the doctor comes before we get back, you'll wait for us?"

Jordan nodded then went to the arm chair in the corner where Renee was quietly napping. She exchanged a few soft words with the woman and then repeated the process with Maggie and Abby. She'd no sooner woken them all when Dr. Roberts came in looking for her.

"Can I talk to you in private?" He asked Jordan. She nodded silently and once again grabbed Renee's hand. "You're coming with me," she whispered, dragging the D.A. out of the room with her.

Woody waited long agonizing minutes for Jordan to return with news of Garret's health. He hoped for all their sakes that the antibiotics were working and that Garret would finally wake up from his coma. He knew what it was like waiting hours on end in a hospital for news of a loved one. He thought of his father. Sometimes the news you wanted to hear never came.

He looked up as Bug reappeared with Nigel and Kate in tow. He looked suspiciously at the guilty look Nigel wore and wondered briefly what had happened while the two were out of the room. "Jordan and Renee are with Dr. Roberts now," was his answer to Bug's questioning look.

The words were no sooner out of his mouth when Jordan and Renee stepped back into the room, small smiles on both their faces. Woody breathed a sigh of relief; they were finally getting some good news.

Jordan took a deep breath and faced her friends. "He's responding well to the antibiotics; they caught the infection early and his fever has broken all ready." She grinned at the collective sigh of relief that echoed through the room. "He hasn't regained consciousness yet, but the good news is the doctors ran a MRI to find out where the infection is, and there doesn't seem to be any compromised brain activity. They're not exactly sure why Garret's still in a coma, but they figure it may just be his body's way of trying to heal. Anyway, we are allowed to see him, but we have to suit up to reduce the risk of any more infectious viruses getting to him. Two at a time, and there's a ten minute maximum. Renee and I are going first."

She caught Woody's eye before she turned and left the room. He smiled at her, letting her know he'd be there waiting for her when she finished with Garret.

Jordan followed Renee back to Garret's room where they donned gowns, gloves and masks before entering. She hung back while Renee spent the first five of their ten minutes on her own with Garret. Jordan watched from the doorway as the 'take no prisoners' D.A. held Garret's hand and caressed his cheek with her fingers. When her time was up, Renee kissed Garret's forehead and crossed the room to where Jordan was waiting in the doorway.

"Thank you," she whispered to Jordan. "Thank you for letting me be here with him."

Jordan smiled softly at the woman she once considered her nemesis. "Thank you, Renee, for sitting with him last night. It means a lot to me that someone he cares about was here with him, whether he knew it or not."

Renee smiled back at her then nodded her head to the doorway. "You'd better get in there before our time is up. I'll let whoever is next know they can come get suited up."

Jordan nodded then took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

She stood for a moment in silence, taking in the various tubes and IV bags and monitors surrounding her friend. She knew it wasn't very long ago he'd done this same thing in her hospital room. She sat in the chair beside his bed that she'd occupied two nights ago.

"Hey, Garret," she whispered as she took his hand and squeezed it gently. "You scared the hell out of me, you know. We're even now, okay?" She paused to wipe away a stray tear escaping down her cheek. "You're going to be okay. You can beat this, Garret. We're all here to make sure of it and we're prepared to kick your ass if you even _think _about leaving us! Nigel and Drew Haley and I are still working this case, so I'm not going to promise you I'll be back tonight, but I swear I'll see you tomorrow. And Dr. Roberts better have some good news for me." She leaned forward a placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Sleep tight, Garret. I'll see you in the morning."

She got up quietly and with one last glance over her shoulder, she silently left the room.

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He was waiting for her when she emerged from Garret's room. He watched in silence as she stripped off her gown, gloves and mask. He watched as she closed her eyes, fighting the tears that hid there. And when he watched her start to shake, he stepped forward and wrapped her safely in his arms and held her until her tears subsided.

"He's going to be okay, Jordan. The doctors are optimistic about a good recovery. He just has to get his strength back, and until he does that, the coma is the best thing for him." He pulled away gently and brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek.

"I know," she whispered. "I know. But it's still hard, you know?" She looked at him with a watery smile, knowing all to well that he understood what she was saying.

"I know." He repeated her words as he smiled back at her. He ran his hands along her upper arms in an effort to help calm her. "Can I take you home now?"

She nodded. "Can we wait until everyone's seen him? I just want to make sure someone will be here with him tonight."

"Sure Jordan. Let me know when you're ready to go." He kissed her forehead gently then took her hand and led her back to the waiting area.

It was another half hour before everyone had been in to see Garret. Maggie and Abby volunteered to stay the night with him and once Jordan was satisfied they had all her instructions and phone numbers memorized, she let herself be led away by Woody.

The trip from the hospital to her apartment wasn't a long one at that time of the evening. Even so, Woody had to gently shake her awake when they reached her building.

They rode the elevator in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. When they reached Jordan's apartment door, Woody took her keys from her and unlocked the deadbolt. He didn't voice his concerns, but she knew he was concerned about the Albanian mob threat. When he was satisfied all was well, he locked the door behind them and led her by the hand to her couch.

"We need to talk," he said softly as he sat down.

"I know." She was silent for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.

He watched her struggle with where to begin, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind; the question that had been bothering him since eight o'clock that morning:

"What did Haley mean when he said he'd almost lost you before?"

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	10. Confessions

_**This chapter has been re-posted because there was a **__**major**__** error in it and I can't believe no one called me on it!! Anyway, it's fixed now**_

_Thank you so much to everyone for your kind reviews. _

_I apologize for the slow updates. Life is kind of getting in the way and my muse seems to have taken a holiday. Hopefully hearing all of your feedback will give me the kick in the pants I need to get this done!_

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just trying to focus my frustration on creating a complete ending for our beloved characters.**

**Thanks for reading!**

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**Chapter Ten - Confessions**

Renee entered her penthouse apartment just after 9pm. She kicked her shoes off and threw her keys on the foyer table without bothering to stop and put either item away. She was just too damned tired.

She waited half a heartbeat for the thumping of two year old feet and her son calling "Mama" before she remembered Michael was spending the week with his father. She'd phoned her ex when the news of the crash rescue broke and asked him to keep their son at his home until the terrorist business was dealt with. It was good timing; her ex had recently re-married and wanted to spend time with Michael, and Renee believed her son would be safer with his father until the authorities figured out who was behind the Venezia mystery.

In light of the Albanian mob connection, she was even more relieved her son was with his father; hopefully, he'd be safe there.

She wandered to the liquor cabinet and poured herself two fingers of scotch over ice. The burn of the liquid down her throat matched the ache in her heart as she thought back over the last two years of her life.

After Michael was born she had secretly held onto the hope that she and Garret stood a chance of reconciliation. But the new demands of motherhood soon took its toll. Her first priority, obviously, was Michael, and being a father himself, Garret respected her need to focus on her son. But the more time she spent at home working, the less time she spent in her office, which meant less time spent with Garret.

She'd worked the odd case with him since then, and each time she saw him, she felt the same tug on her heartstrings as her mind relived the feel of her naked body entwined with his.

She mentally shook herself out of her reverie and instead of reminiscing, tried to focus on the gorgeous view of the Boston Harbour, twenty six stories below her living room windows. As she stood watching the marine traffic, scotch in hand, she found she couldn't shut her mind off as easily as she'd hoped.

During the course of their nearly twelve hour vigil at the hospital, Jordan and Detective Hoyt had let her know of the newest Albanian mob threat. Renee was furious that Albie Samson was out of jail. But as the hours wore on, she found herself grateful to have something to do other than wait. The information Jordan provided had given Renee almost two hours of work to take care of, which in turn, gave her mind a two hour reprieve from worrying about Garret.

She grimaced to herself now, thinking two hours wasn't nearly enough to stop her from thinking of Garret Macy.

She glanced down at her glass of scotch, watching the amber liquid swirl over and around the ice cubes. How many times had she performed that same action, her hip perched on the edge of Garret's desk as they celebrated one more victory? How many times had she performed that same action, long after her son was tucked into bed, as she sat alone in the silence of her living room and recalled those victories? How many times had she wondered how different her life would be if Garret Macy knew she loved him?

"Fuck it," she swore aloud. She set her glass down on the kitchen counter so forcefully the liquid sloshed over the edge. She paid no attention, however; just slipped on her shoes, grabbed her keys from the foyer table and slammed the door behind her.

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They were silent on the drive back to her place; Kate lost in her thoughts and Nigel still preoccupied with the feeling of her lips on his.

He brushed the back of his hand self-consciously across his mouth, as if he could still feel the heat of her there. He could most certainly still taste her there.

She'd caught him completely by surprise at the hospital and before he'd had time to react, she'd broken the kiss and sauntered down the hall, leaving him wondering what the hell had just happened.

"Bloody hell," he'd whispered; then gotten the crap scared out of him by Bug, who was there to tell him Dr. M.'s surgeon was going to speaking to Jordan soon. He must have had one hell of a look on his face, because Bug had grabbed his good wrist and checked his pulse.

"Your heart is racing, Nige, and your face is pale. You need to get downstairs and have your arm checked out for infection."

He'd laughed, then; a crazy, high pitched laugh that almost had Bug convinced he needed a gurney to take Nigel to the E.R. on.

"I'm fine, mate." He'd told his friend, when he'd finally gotten his breathing under control. "Just had a little scare, that's all." He wrapped his good arm around Bug's shoulders and steered him down the hall towards the waiting area before Bug could come up with any more questions for him.

He smiled at that now, knowing Bug had hardly taken his eyes off of him for the rest of the evening. It had taken him and Kate to convince Bug that Nigel was fine to drive home after they'd seen Dr. M.

Now he was sitting in the car, grateful to have the task of driving to focus on. He pulled the car up to the curb in front of her townhouse and killed the engine. "Kate," he began.

"Thank you for the ride, Nigel. I know it's out of your way to bring me home. I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow?" She asked, knowing the answer would be yes.

He nodded, too confused to speak as she got out of the car, shut the door and walked up the front steps to her door. He watched her put the key in the lock, open the door, then turn and wave at him before closing the door firmly behind her.

He was still sitting there five minutes later when she peeked out her front curtains. She grinned to herself, knowing once again, she had won the round.

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She sighed, and Woody wasn't sure if it was because of the question he'd asked her, or because she knew he had witnessed everything that had happened between her and Drew Haley that morning.

He waited a few moments more before he allowed the familiar feelings of frustration to come to the surface of his mind. He opened his mouth to ask again and that's when he noticed it: the flickers of fear playing across her face combined with the closing of her eyes and tilting her head back that she only did when she was hurting. He knew the motions because usually he was the reason for her hurt.

He also knew if he wanted a chance with her, he needed to be more patient. And he was going to start with _really_ listening to her.

"Jordan," he said softly. "I'm sorry I asked. If it's too much . . . we can do this another time."

She shook her head silently; opened her eyes and smiled softly at him. "No, it's okay. I, uh, just needed a minute, ya know?"

She had stayed standing when he'd led her to the couch and sat down, and now she began to pace; a sure sign this was going to take a while and it was not going to be easy for her.

She took a deep breath. "I met Drew Haley five and a half years ago when he blew into town and took over a case Lois Carver and I were working on." She smiled a little at the memory. "I was so pissed at him."

Woody grinned. "Who you? And all this time I thought you loved the guys in central casting!"

She shot him a look and he quickly closed he mouth. "The gunshot victim BPD pulled out of the harbour turned out not to be a gunshot victim after all. Turns out the 'gunshots' were embalming fluid holes; the guy had been dead and buried for a few months. That is, until a serial killer decided to heave him into the harbour and then recycle the casket for his next victim."

"Wait a minute, I heard about that. It was a couple of weeks before I arrived in Boston. I remember reading about it because the guys in Kewaunee were ribbing me about leaving behind the "exciting world of issuing parking tickets" to solve the 'Digger' case. They called the guy 'Digger' because he dug up caskets, tossed the body, and then replaced the casket with a new victim inside, right?"

Jordan nodded, and Woody didn't miss the raw fear that flashed in her eyes again. There was more to the story and he instinctively knew it wasn't going to be easy for Jordan to tell it. He sat back and waited for her to continue.

"Drew Haley was the profiler assigned to the case by the FBI. He'd been working the case for months, tracking the perp's movements, finding out everything he could about him. When Haley showed up at the morgue demanding everything we had, I of course, kept a few things and started an investigation of my own. When Haley found out I had withheld evidence, he freaked. I told him the only way I was giving up what I knew was if he let me in. So he did. In retrospect, I think he did it as a way to scare me off the case . . ."

"But he didn't know Jordan Cavanaugh." Woody grinned at her, trying to diffuse some of the tension he could see creeping its way into her back muscles.

She smiled shyly at him, knowing what he was trying to do. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and continued.

"The guy was an animal, Woody. He'd been making his way down the eastern seaboard for months killing two women each in Maine and New Hampshire. We traced the body in the harbour back to his grave site and found 'Digger's' first Boston victim, but we were too late. Then he grabbed another woman a couple of nights later. I happened to be at his travel trailer with, uh, an acquaintance, when we interrupted him coming back from his second kill."

She stopped pacing for a moment, her back to him, and Woody could see her struggling for composure. He longed to go to her, tell her everything would be okay, but he knew she needed to get the story out, and hopefully release some of the demons still haunting her, as well.

"He'd taped a walkie-talkie to her hand, Woody. He wanted to hear her begging and pleading for her life." Her voice broke and he watched in silence as she angrily brushed aside her tears. "I promised her we'd find her. I begged her to hang on." She paused, caught her breath. "We didn't make it in time. Her fingers . . . there was blood all over her hands . . . her name was Chloe, and she was 'Digger's' sixth victim."

Something clicked in Woody's brain, then; some far away memory he couldn't quite wrap his mind around. . .

"After that, he got scared; burned out his travel trailer and took off. Haley and I were able to gather some solid evidence from the wreckage of his trailer and started piecing together what these women meant to him and why he had to hear them begging for their lives."

She stopped, took another deep breath and continued. "During a late night, hashing through theories, Haley fell asleep and I decided to snoop through his stuff. I came across some things that led me to believe that _he_ was 'Digger'." She shrugged her shoulders and her voice was so quiet Woody could barely hear her. "I ran. Haley came after me, cornered me at the morgue . . . he tried to tell me the truth . . . but he was there . . . he couldn't stop him . . ."

Her tears were coming faster and she was having trouble breathing.

Woody got up then, place his hands gently on her shaking shoulders. "You were the seventh victim, weren't you, Jordan?" His voice was so soft and tender she had a hard time controlling her tears. He turned her around gently, tilted her chin up with his finger. "Weren't you, Jordan?" He felt his heart break into a million tiny pieces when she closed her eyes and nodded.

She felt her knees give out at the same time she felt him sweep her up in his arms and carry her to the couch where he placed her gently in his lap and held her until her sobs quieted.

Her throat was raw with emotion when she finally lifted her head to ask him.

He caught the look in her eyes and placed a finger gently over her lips. "When I first got to Boston, Lieutenant Winslow made me read over some recent case files. He wanted me to get a sense of how the BPD conducted their investigations and also, I think, to show me what kind of things I could be dealing with here. I think he was really just testing me to see if I could take it."

She smiled slightly. "That sounds like Eddie."

"The 'Digger' case was one of those files, Jordan. I remember thinking how great it was to be reading the report, because I had taken such an interest in the case before I moved from Kewaunee. I also remember thinking how weird it was that a seventh victim was mentioned; however no names were filed in the report. Just her age, general physical description, tox screen, injuries and the fact that she'd survived. When I asked Winslow about it, he said the woman asked to remain anonymous and the detective in charge had honoured her wishes because 'Digger' was dead and there wouldn't be a trial.

She nodded. "I asked Lois to keep my name out of it. I knew my name and statement wouldn't be needed for future reference in a trial, because 'Digger' was dead. I just wanted to close the case and forget about it." She sat up and looked him in the eye. "But I'll never forget what we went through on that case, Woody. Drew Haley saved my life that night. For that reason alone, he has a special place in my heart. But he's also a good friend, and a good agent and I trust him with my life, no questions asked."

Woody tightened his arms around her; laid a soft kiss on her temple. "I'm sorry, Jordan. You were right; I should have trusted him simply because you do. It was just weird, you know? We've worked with the FBI before, and you've always hated every second of those cases. It was hard for me to believe that you had such a deep connection with Haley simply because you'd 'worked a case together'."

"I'm sorry, too. I should have explained right away instead of flying off the handle at you. Seeing Drew again really shook me up. It brought back every horrible memory from the 'Digger' case, but having him involved also made me realize this Venezia case could go way deeper that we thought. And it has." She turned in his arms, laid her hand against his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered.

"What for?" He whispered back.

"For being here. For caring enough to listen. And for being you, Farm Boy."

He smiled softly at her. "I haven't done too well at the listening thing in the past. I want to listen to you, Jordan. Really listen. I want to be here for you when you need me, and not just as your friend."

She leaned over and brushed a soft kiss on his forehead. He closed his eyes, wrapped his fingers around her wrist, and laid his lips softly against her palm. He opened his eyes to find her lips inches from his. He flicked his gaze to her eyes, found them darkening to the colour of sweet chocolate. He wrapped his free hand around the back of her neck, capturing her, holding her to him. He held his breath for an instant before her lips crashed down on his, assaulting his senses and making every inch of him tingle with anticipation.

She nibbled at his bottom lip, biting just hard enough to make him gasp with pleasure without drawing blood.

He ran the tip of his tongue across her lips, seeking entrance. He was granted permission and spent a few leisurely moments exploring her and drawing tiny jolts of pleasure from her body.

She broke the kiss gently, softly pushing him down on the couch. She stretched her tired body overtop of his, resting her head on his chest. Her fingers drew soft circles over his heart while his tangled in her hair. She reached with her free hand to grasp his, bringing to her face to gently caress it with her lips.

He closed his eyes, content with the feeling of being in her arms and the knowledge that they were finally on the same page with their relationship.

"Jordan?" He murmured in her ear. He waited a heartbeat before he realized her breathing had evened out and she'd fallen asleep. "I love you, too." he whispered as he kissed the top of her head, inhaling her sweet scent, and drifted off to sleep.

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He awoke several hours later, the pain in his back reminding him he'd spent too much time sleeping on couches during the past twenty four hours. He gently removed his hand from Jordan's and glanced at his watch: 1:34a.m. He groaned and shifted his body slightly to try and relieve some pressure off of his lower back.

She felt him stir and pushed herself to a half-sitting position. "Hey," she whispered.

"Hey, yourself."

She ran her fingers over her tired eyes. "What time is it?"

"A little after 1:30." He struggled to push himself to a sitting position as well, and grinned at her when she grabbed his hand and tugged him up.

"Your back hurts, doesn't it?" She looked at him with a concerned eye.

"A little." He admitted. "Too much couch time today." He grinned to let her know he was fine, just a little stiff. "I should go; let you get some rest." He stood, bending backwards slightly to stretch his back muscles.

"You could stay." The words came out barely louder than a whisper.

He smiled, cupped her face in his strong hands. "I know. But no matter what you believe, Jordan, you _do_ need to get some sleep. And something tells me if I stay, there won't be much sleeping going on." He kissed the tip of her nose and pretended to ignore the slight flush of colour that invaded her cheeks.

She grinned wickedly at him. "I seem to recall promising you a backrub . . ."

He groaned, caught between his desire to be with her and doing the best thing for them. He decided on the later.

She walked with him to the door, stood on her tip toes to brush her lips against his cheek. "Thank you, Woody. For everything."

He caught her lips with his on their way back from his cheek. It took everything he had to break the kiss and rest his forehead against hers. "Phone me if anything changes with Dr. Macy, and I'll come get you. If I don't hear from you, I'll pick you up at nine."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Goodnight, Jordan."

"Goodnight, Woody."

She closed the door gently behind him, leaned her back against it in an effort to catch her breath. She could still feel the warmth of him; taste the sweetness of his kiss. She groaned as she pushed herself away from the door. How on earth was she supposed to sleep when the smell of him lingered throughout her apartment?

She was startled by a soft knock on her door and smiled to herself as she swung the door open. "Change your mind about spending the night, Farm B-" She broke off and stared in disbelief at the man standing before her.

He smiled back at her, enjoying her obvious discomfort.

"Hello, Jordan."

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The ringing of the cell phone startled him, and he reached for his belt clip only to realize _that_ ring wasn't _his_ ring. He glanced over at the empty passenger seat and saw the illuminated display of Jordan's cell phone. _It must have fallen from her pocket when I drove her home earlier_ he thought as he picked it up and flipped it open.

"Jordan Cavanaugh's phone," he answered, not bothering to check the call display.

"Hoyt?"

Woody groaned. "What do you want, Haley? It's almost 2a.m.!"

"Where's Jordan?"

"At home sleeping, hopefully. She left her cell phone in my car when I drove her home from the hospital earlier."

There was a pause and Woody thought Haley had hung up on him.

"Haley? As much as you enjoy giving me the silent treatment, I'm really not in the mood for your games. Why are you trying to get in touch with Jordan in the middle of the night?"

"We've got some information on Samson's whereabouts."

Woody just about drove off the road. He quickly pulled his car to a stop on the shoulder of the road. "And?"

"We've been tracking his organization's hotspots since this morning. A of couple agents finally found Samson himself late this evening."

"Okay. So what's this got to do with Jordan? Why aren't you moving on him?" Woody demanded. He was tired and sore and not in the mood for the profiler's mind games.

"We don't know enough about the Boston area to be sure if it's safe to move on him. Until dawn breaks, they're tailing him and when we've got some daylight to work with we'll take him down."

"You still haven't answered my question: what's this got to do with Jordan?" Woody rubbed his hand up and down the back of his neck. He was losing more patience by the second.

"He's been sitting for the past couple of hours. In his car. No phone calls, no visitors, just sitting. We ran a grid search of his hot spots, and where he is now doesn't match any of them. He's just sitting for no apparent reason."

Woody sat up straight in his seat, alarm bells going off in his head. "Uh, uh. Albie Samson doesn't just 'sit for no reason'. He's watching something, someone. I'd bet money on it, Haley. The question is, who?"

"That's what I was hoping Jordan could help me with. She's lived here all her life and could tell me what this particular area might mean to him."

"I've been here long enough, Haley, and I'm a cop. I know all the bad places there are to know in Boston. What have you got?" Despite his sore back and the late time, Woody was tingling in anticipation at being one step closer to Albie Samson.

"I don't have a neighbourhood name, just an address."

"Shoot."

"227 Pearl Street."

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	11. Danger

_100+ reviews Wow! Never in a million years did I even wish that would happen with my first fanfic. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and reviewing. Your ideas and thoughts have truly kept me inspired. _

_**Dedications:**_

_- For all you WoJo fans out there._

_- For jtbwriter__ – thanks for hanging in there. I promised you this wouldn't be a 40's movie plot . . . here's your proof! _

_- And for wjobsessed - Happy Birthday my friend. Hope you had a good one!_

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just trying to focus my frustration on creating a complete ending for our beloved characters. **

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**Chapter Eleven - Danger**

She didn't think. She just reacted.

Throwing her weight behind the door, she tried her best to slam it shut before he could gain access to her apartment.

But he'd anticipated her move and stuck his foot against the frame to prevent to door from latching.

She looked around frantically for something to drop on his foot but before she could find anything the coldness of steel was pressing against her cheek.

She heart landed in her throat, but she kept her body pushing against the door.

"Open the door, Jordan." He spoke quietly, but his voice was cold as death.

"Go to hell." She whispered harshly.

The gun barrel dug deeper into her soft skin. "Don't make me tell you again."

She closed her eyes, sending a silent prayer that he wouldn't get to Woody, and eased the door open.

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Woody threw the cell phone onto his passenger seat, whipped the steering wheel around to pull a U-turn, and hammered his foot down on the accelerator.

"Hoyt! Hoyt! What the hell is going on?"

He snatched the phone off the seat. "That's Jordan's building!" His heart was slamming against his ribs and it took every ounce of his concentration to stay on the road while his car careened through Boston's neighbourhood streets.

"Shit." He heard Haley barking orders into what was probably a hand held radio.

"Keep your men down, Haley! You get that place crawling with agents and he'll kill her!"

"Hoyt, this is out of your hands now, let us do our jobs."

"The hell I will!"

"Detective Hoyt, don't make me restrain you at the scene. I know you want to protect her but you can't just go barging in –"

"You don't get it, Haley! He doesn't care if she dies! He'd take great pleasure in killing her for the simple reason he knows she matters to me!"

Haley was silent for a moment. "He's baiting you, Hoyt."

"I know," Woody said quietly.

"How far away are you?"

"About two minutes out."

"Go in. See if you can talk him down. I'll get my men in place as backup."

Woody snapped the phone shut and prayed Jordan was still okay.

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Drew Haley slammed his fist against the desk he sat at in his temporary office at the Boston FBI office. He wasn't sure who he was angrier with: Jordan for being vulnerable to the Albanian Mob or himself for allowing her to be.

He quickly decided he was not just angry, but furious with himself. He'd promised Jordan not twenty four hours ago that he wouldn't put her in danger again. And once again, she was in a life threatening situation because he'd trusted the information contained in someone else's report.

To top it off, he was going to catch hell for allowing a BPD detective to be lead man in, instead of using the FBI task force that was allotted to him for situations such as these.

He tipped his head back, wondering how on earth he had missed knowing Jordan had been a sitting duck to Samson for hours. Something wasn't connecting with this case.

He thought about Hoyt's statement: "He doesn't care if she dies!" Why did that bother him so much? He knew Samson would go after Hoyt; in fact he expected it. But why Jordan? Yes, the man was a cold blooded killer, but there was no evidence pointing to Samson killing unnecessarily; every man he'd killed had been a means to clean up the dirty work of his mob business. It wasn't his style to take a human life with seemingly no provocation.

Haley had no reason to even think Samson would go after Jordan. Did he?

He snatched the reports from the 2005 Boston Albanian Mob case. Quickly, he scanned through them again. Nothing jumped out at him. He tossed the folder on his desk in frustration and that's when he noticed it. A piece of paper had come loose from the report and instead of reattaching it in order someone had tucked it inside the back flap of the folder where it couldn't be seen. Haley's eyes flicked over the words on the page and he stared in disbelief at the new information. Suddenly everything made sense. He clenched his jaw and let his mad roll over him once again.

He glanced at his watch, saw five minutes had passed and he knew Hoyt would be on scene, and probably entering Jordan's apartment.

It was time to call in his task force.

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She'd let him in.

Why the hell had she done that?

'_Cause he stuck a gun in your face, that's why! _

And she knew if he was there with her, he couldn't be with Woody. Which meant Woody was safe. For the time being.

He closed the door gently behind them and forced her at gunpoint to the middle of the room. She had her wits about her enough to notice he hadn't locked the door and the knowledge of why made her blood run cold. Somehow, he knew Woody would be back to her apartment and he was making it easy for the detective to walk into his trap.

She could feel her skin crawl with fear and disgust and she willed her brain to come up with something to say to get him talking and keep him talking.

She could think of only one thing.

"Why are you here?"

He looked at her; flashed her that same sick smile he'd shown that night at his club. "Come, now, Jordan. You are a smart woman. I am sure you can figure out the answer."

"I want to hear your answer."

"Now, now, let's not ruin our little reunion with such talk. We both know you are not going to leave this room alive, let's leave it at that, shall we?" 

"Don't play games with me! We know all about your connections with the Hamberi brothers and your plans for the Charlestown Bridge. Too bad your little expedition failed, Albie. There's no way you'll escape going back to prison now; not with the FBI and Homeland Security involved. So just answer then fucking question: Why are you here?"

His face turned cold and his mouth twisted into a sneer. "Because it is more fun to watch Detective Hoyt watch you suffer, than it is to just kill you both."

She swallowed hard.

"And I've failed at nothing, Dr. Cavanaugh. Everything, from the Venezia crew perishing, to your morgue handling the D-mort, has gone off without a hitch. The only thing I hadn't counted on was your plane crashing, but it worked to my advantage; it gave me a few more days to perfect the remainder of my plans."

She felt as if she'd been kicked in the gut. She'd been trapped with would-be murderers before, but she'd always been able to talk them down; convince them taking someone else's life wasn't the answer. Albie Samson was different. He was a cold blooded killer with no conscience and she knew he'd die before he went back to prison. He had nothing to live for, so nothing was going to stop him from carrying out his plan.

"How did you know the Venezia crewmen would let the bomb go on-board ship?"

"Fakhir Hamberi has a big mouth. I knew once he had overtaken the ship, he wouldn't be able to refrain from taunting the crewmen with his plan; letting them know exactly what was to happen. I did my research. This was not the first time those two crewmen risked it all to save a life. I counted on their sense of duty to carry out the part of the plan I could not trust Fakhir with: letting the bomb go at sea."

She stared at him in disbelief. "So this was all just a ruse to gain the attention of the Boston P.D.?"

He shook his head, chuckling to himself. "So smart, and yet so naïve. Not the Boston Police Department. Detective Woody Hoyt."

"You've got my attention, Albie. So let's say you let Jordan go and we finish this once and for all?"

Samson turned slowly, grinning his sick smile. "Detective Hoyt. How nice of you to join us."

"You okay?" Woody flicked his gaze toward Jordan, his gun still trained on Samson.

She nodded. Her heart had leapt into her throat at the sound of his voice and it was all she could do to keep from yelling at him to run.

"Albie here was just telling me how his plan to blow up the Charlestown Bridge and release the nerve gas has, so far, gone off without a hitch." She watched Woody's face for any flickers of confusion. There were none. She breathed a little easier knowing he'd been listening for a chance to enter without putting her in more danger. In the process, he'd gained more information than he'd bargained for.

"Yeah, I heard. Pretty impressive stuff. I have only one question for you: how did you know you'd be out of prison in time to oversee the remainder of the 'plan'?"

Samson shrugged. "That was the easy part: my lawyer had been working on the 'technicality' since I'd been remanded to prison. He knew exactly when I needed to be out of jail, and I pay him enough to make sure he followed through."

"Only now you're here. Cornered in a room with a cop who has no problems making sure you don't walk out of here. How do plan to get out of this one, Albie?" Jordan's eyes blazed with anger and resentment.

"That's easy." He moved so fast neither she nor Woody had time to react. "I don't plan on leaving any witnesses."

She felt the steel barrel of his gun pushing against her skin again and she closed her eyes.

"Jordan. Jordan, look at me."

She opened her eyes and found Woody's. He held her gaze as he promised her, "I'm going to get you out of this, Jordan. Okay?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She licked her lips. "Then do it fast, Farm Boy."

"Isn't this cozy? You know, Detective, you're making your death much more entertaining than I had ever dared to hope." Samson's eyes turned cold and his voice dripped with venom. "Now drop your weapon." He moved behind Jordan and pressed the barrel of his gun to her temple. He cocked his weapon and the click resounded like thunder in the room.

"Let her go, Albie! She hasn't done anything to you!"

"Oh, but she has detective. You see, if she hadn't poked her nose into your brother's business, you wouldn't have come after her. And you wouldn't have shot me while trying to protect her. I underestimated the power of your love for her. I won't make that mistake again."

"This place is surrounded by FBI agents, Samson. You won't get out of here alive, even if you do kill us." Woody kept his gun trained on Samson, but the man was smart: he kept his body well protected by Jordan. His head and gun hand were the only body parts open, but Woody couldn't risk firing there – if his shot was off by an inch . . . .

He became aware of Samson's voice. "This whole building is loaded with nerve gas, ready to be let go at the touch of a button. You see, Detective, while your friends at the FBI were watching me, I was watching my men. It seems there are still a few members of my organization I can trust." He tightened his grip on Jordan, making her wince painfully. "Detective, I won't tell you again: drop your weapon."

Woody hesitated a split second; just long enough to look into Jordan's eyes and see the pain and fear barely contained there. He hated giving up his weapon, but he knew if Jordan had any chance of survival, he had to do what Samson demanded. He could only hope Haley had his men in place and were ready to intervene.

He stepped forward slowly and laid his service weapon on the floor.

"Kick it under the couch."

Woody gave his gun a nudge with is foot and sent it skittering across Jordan's living room floor and under the couch. He knew now even if there was a struggle, he was going to have to rely on something other that his police issued protection. There was no way anyone in that room was getting to that gun fast enough to protect themselves.

He looked up in time to see a single tear leak from the corner of Jordan's tightly closed eyes and he felt his heart break all over again. He couldn't protect her. What on Earth ever made him think he could?

He heard what sounded like a soft scratching outside the apartment door and he willed himself to stay calm. He saw Jordan's eyes flick open, and he knew she'd heard it too. He had to keep Samson talking so he didn't hear it as well. But how? He looked at Samson and a sudden realization hit him.

"Now what, Albie? How do you plan on getting out of here unnoticed to let the nerve gas go? Shooting us will make noise and draw attention to yourself; after all, there's no silencer on your gun."

Any hope Woody'd had of throwing Samson off was crushed when the Albanian began to laugh. "I never planned on shooting you, Detective. That's too quick, too easy. And certainly not painful enough. That's what the nerve gas is for; a slow, painful death is what you deserve."

Woody's blood ran cold. If Samson wasn't planning on shooting them, then how did he plan on escaping the apartment to get to his nerve gas? To get to the door, he had to get past Woody, and there was no way Woody was planning on letting Samson slide past him.

It happened with lightening speed.

Woody heard the sickening crack of metal against bone and before he could blink, Jordan crumpled to the ground, blood rushing from the wound on her temple.

And just like Samson had planned, Woody rushed toward Jordan, allowing Samson to slip out of the apartment. Samson didn't plan, however, on the FBI being right outside Jordan's apartment door for the takedown.

Woody heard the commotion, but was too busy tending to Jordan to take notice of what was happening. He sat beside her, cradling her head in his lap. He whipped his shirt over his head, pressing the material into the wound, trying desperately to hold pressure on it and stop the bleeding. "I need some help in here!" He yelled to the agents and officers in the hallway.

He looked down at her unconscious form, willing her to wake up. "Jordan, come on, wake up, this isn't fair. You've survived being framed for murder, a brain tumor, and a plane crash; I'm not letting you die now. You have too much to live for." He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. "Besides, we still have some things we need to work out." He put his fingers to her throat and breathed a sigh of relief upon feeling a pulse. It was weak, but it was there.

"Hoyt! You okay?" Haley came rushing into the room, stopped dead at the sight of Jordan lying in a pool of blood.

"We need an ambulance." He looked up at the agent; didn't miss the fear playing across Haley's face. Woody knew he was reliving the 'Digger' case, but now was not the time for self pity. "Now, Haley!" He caught the agent's gaze. "She's going to be okay. Just go get her some help." He watched Haley move away and bark orders into his hand held radio. He returned his attention to Jordan.

The blood was starting to seep through the fabric of his shirt, so he folded over more clean fabric while still keeping pressure on Jordan's wound. _I can't lose you; I won't lose you,_ his mind chanted over and over again. "Jordan, come on, wake up. You can't bail on me now, you still owe me a backrub, remember?"

She groaned softly then and reached up to touch his hand. "Too loud," she whispered.

"Sorry," he whispered back. "I wasn't sure if you could hear me."

"Hurts," she mumbled. "W'happened?"

"Your head got in the way of the butt of Samson's gun."

"Better thanna bullet," she slurred. "Can't open m'eyes, Woods. Dizzy."

"The ambulance is on its way, Jordan. Just hang on a few minutes more." He was getting desperate now; she was exhibiting signs of a serious concussion, and his brain scrambled to remember his first aid training. _Keep her talking._ But what did he say?

His mind flashed back to the morning they'd gotten off the mountain. He'd been sitting with Garret, watching Jordan, wishing he could stop her pain and tell her all the things he longed for her to hear. Garret had looked right through him and offered a very Garret-esque piece of advice: "Stop analyzing it and just go with your heart. Don't think about the perfect place, or the perfect time; just do it, the first second you have the chance."

"Jordan. Jordan?" He shook her gently. "Wake up sweetheart. You have to stay awake, Jordan. Please."

She mumbled something incoherent.

"Jordan, I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?" He heard her grunt and almost laughed with relief. "Remember what you said to me on the mountain? Remember you told me you had to say it because you didn't want it left unsaid?" She squeezed his hand. He took a deep breath. "Open your eyes," he whispered. He watched her eyelids flutter and one eye cracked open. "I don't want it left unsaid either." Both eyes popped open. He took a deep breath, moved his head so his lips were hovering just above hers and he was looking directly into her eyes. "I love you, Jordan. And you are not leaving me, okay?" Her eyes fluttered closed again and fear curled in his gut. "Okay," she whispered. He brushed his lips with hers, kissed the tip of her nose. "Okay."

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